Περίμενα λοιπόν με αγωνία την Πέμπτη

[Theseus]

Are there three or two people mentioned in this Greek sentence:
Περίμενα λοιπόν με αγωνία την Πέμπτη. Πριν πάω στου φίλου μου, θα ερχόταν εκείνος από το σπίτι να με πάρει και θα γνώριζε τη μητέρα μου.
Are there a friend, another (εκείνος) and I ? Or is the εκείνος the same person as 'my friend' or different? I think the former but is the latter possible?

 

[pontios]

The former as you suspect - it's the same person (the friend). If this is all we have to go by.

The latter is possible, of course, if there's more to it (e.g., this third person if "he" exists - the referred to "εκείνος" - could have been mentioned in a prior sentence?).

 

[nickel]

With what you give us, εκείνος is the friend whose house the narrator will be going to. However, εκείνος, in another sentence, could refer back to a different person. E.g. Είπε ο Παύλος ότι, πριν πάω στου φίλου μου, θα ερχόταν εκείνος από το σπίτι να με πάρει και θα γνώριζε τη μητέρα μου. In this case we consider it obvious that εκείνος is Παύλος, who will be picking the narrator up and meeting his (the narrator's) mother in the process. Then, of course, the sentence might be: Είπε ο Παύλος ότι, πριν πάω στου φίλου μου του Γιώργου, θα ερχόταν ο Γιώργος από το σπίτι να με πάρει και θα γνώριζε τη μητέρα μου. But you don't want more complicated...

 

[pontios]

I edited my post -- just prior to seeing nickel's post.

Nickel has expounded with aplomb what I was getting at. ;)

 

[Theseus]

With aplomb indeed, as Nik does time without number! I'm afraid that what information I have supplied is all that we have to go by. So I'll go for my first attempt, supported by pontios. I have sent an email several times to Dr Tofallis, which he hasn't answered, so I assume that that's that. But his little book has so many niggling errors & paucity of notes that it needs a careful & major overhaul.

 

[pontios]

Theseus...
Περιμένω λοιπόν με κομμένη την ανάσα σήμερα, Παρασκευή - ανησυχώ για το πότε θα απαντηθεί η απορία σου περί "υπαλληλικής ιδιότητας" - στην ακόμη αναπάντητη ανάρτηση σου. :)

I didn't want to bump the thread.