In a code language, 'please come here' is written as '533' and 'bring the potatoes' is written as '427'. How will 'an early start' be written in that language?

Let's inspect the correlation between the text phrases and numerical codes:
The numbers correspond directly to the count of letters inside each consecutive word.

'please come here' → '533'

please → 6 letters (Wait, let's recount: p-l-e-a-s-e is 6. If code is 533, let's verify if it's (length - 1): 6−1=5, 4−1=3, 4−1=3. This matches 533.)

'bring the potatoes' → '427'

bring → 5 letters →5−1=4

the → 3 letters →3−1=2

potatoes → 8 letters →8−1=7

This matches 427 exactly.

Now apply the rule (Word Length - 1) to 'an early start':

an → 2 letters →2−1=1

early → 5 letters →5−1=4

start → 5 letters →5−1=4

Thus, the code is 144.