Learn Hardcore Greek: Οι δικοί μου μένουν σε χωριό, αλλά εγώ μένω στην πόλη. - My family lives in a village, but I live in the city.

It usually refers to close family (parents, siblings) but can also include very close relatives or even people you live with or feel very close to, depending on context.

So the sentence:

Οι δικοί μου μένουν σε χωριό
≈ My folks live in a village / My family lives in a village.

Why is it δικοί and not δικός, δική, or δικό?

Δικός / δική / δικό / δικοί / δικές / δικά is an adjective meaning own, and it has to agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it replaces.

Here, οι δικοί μου is standing in for something like οι δικοί μου άνθρωποι (my own people), which is:

masculine
plural
nominative (subject of the sentence)

So we use the masculine plural nominative form:

ο δικός μου – my own (masc. singular)
οι δικοί μου – my own (masc. plural) → my people / my folks

Masculine plural is the default when you’re talking about a mixed or unspecified group.

Why do we need the article οι in οι δικοί μου?

In Greek, when δικός / δική / δικό is used as a possessive pronoun (replacing a noun instead of just describing it), it normally comes with the definite article:

ο δικός μου – mine (masc. sing.)
η δική μου – mine (fem. sing.)
το δικό μου – mine (neut. sing.)
οι δικοί μου – mine (masc. pl.)
οι δικές μου – mine (fem. pl.)
τα δικά μου – mine (neut. pl.)

So οι δικοί μου = my own (people).
Without οι, it would sound incomplete or ungrammatical in this use.

What does μου do in οι δικοί μου, and why does it come after the word?

Μου here is the unstressed possessive pronoun meaning my.

In Greek, unstressed possessives usually go after the noun (or pronoun) they belong to:

ο πατέρας μου – my father
η μητέρα μου – my mother
το σπίτι μου – my house
οι δικοί μου – my own (people)

So οι δικοί μου literally is the my own (ones) → my own people.
You do not say μου δικοί; that would be wrong word order here.

Why does the verb change from μένουν to μένω in the same sentence?

Because it has to agree with the subject:

Οι δικοί μου μένουν – they live
- Subject: οι δικοί μου (they) → 3rd person plural
- Verb: μένουν = they live
εγώ μένω – I live
- Subject: εγώ (I) → 1st person singular
- Verb: μένω = I live

It’s the same verb μένω (to live / to stay), just conjugated for different persons:

εγώ μένω – I live
εσύ μένεις – you live
αυτός / αυτή / αυτό μένει – he / she / it lives
εμείς μένουμε – we live
εσείς μένετε – you (pl./formal) live
αυτοί / αυτές / αυτά μένουν – they live

Does μένω mean “live” or “stay”? How should I think of it here?

Μένω can mean both live (reside) and stay, depending on context:

Μένω στην πόλη. – I live in the city.
Μένω στο ξενοδοχείο. – I’m staying at the hotel.

In your sentence (Οι δικοί μου μένουν σε χωριό, αλλά εγώ μένω στην πόλη.), it clearly means to live / to reside (a permanent or long-term situation).

Why is it σε χωριό without an article, but στην πόλη with an article?

This is about definiteness and a bit of idiomatic usage.

σε χωριό = in a village (unspecified, any village)
στην πόλη = in the city (more specific, often understood as “in the city” as opposed to “in the countryside”)

Grammatically:

σε χωριό
- σε (in) + χωριό (village, neuter, singular, accusative)
- No article → it feels more like a village / some village
στην πόλη
- σε (in) + την (the, fem. acc. sing.) + πόλη (city, fem. acc. sing.)
- With article → in the city

You could also say:

Οι δικοί μου μένουν στο χωριό. – My folks live in the village.
Here you’re talking about a particular village that both speaker and listener know.

So, no article: more generic or indefinite; with article: more specific or generic in a different way (like the city vs the countryside).

What exactly is στην? Is it one word or two?

Στην is a contraction of σε + την:

σε = in, at, to
την = the (feminine, singular, accusative)

Greek commonly combines σε with the definite article:

σε + τον → στον
σε + την → στην
σε + το → στο
σε + τους → στους
σε + τις → στις
σε + τα → στα

So:

στην πόλη = σε την πόλη → in the city
στο σπίτι = σε το σπίτι → in the house

Why do we explicitly say εγώ in αλλά εγώ μένω στην πόλη? Could we leave it out?

Yes, εγώ could be left out grammatically:

…αλλά μένω στην πόλη. – …but I live in the city.

In Greek, subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb endings show who the subject is.

Here, εγώ is included for emphasis and contrast:

Οι δικοί μου μένουν σε χωριό, αλλά εγώ μένω στην πόλη.
→ My folks live in a village, but I live in the city.

The stress is on the contrast they vs I.
So εγώ works like stressing I in English: “but I live in the city.”

What case are χωριό and πόλη in, and why?

Both χωριό and πόλη are in the accusative case.

In Greek, the preposition σε (in, at, to) is normally followed by the accusative:

σε χωριό – in a village (accusative)
στην πόλη – in the city (accusative)

Their basic forms and genders:

το χωριό – the village (neuter)
- nominative: το χωριό
- accusative: το χωριό (same form)
η πόλη – the city (feminine)
- nominative: η πόλη
- accusative: την πόλη

In the sentence you see:

σε χωριό – χωριό in the accusative (same as nominative in form)
στην πόλη – πόλη in the accusative (την πόλη, with the article merged into στην)

Could I say Η οικογένειά μου μένει σε χωριό instead of Οι δικοί μου μένουν σε χωριό? Is there a difference?

You can absolutely say:

Η οικογένειά μου μένει σε χωριό. – My family lives in a village.

The difference is mostly nuance:

Οι δικοί μου – more colloquial and warm, like my folks / my people.
Η οικογένειά μου – more neutral and literal, my family.

Both are correct; οι δικοί μου just sounds more informal and conversational.

How do you pronounce Οι δικοί μου μένουν σε χωριό, αλλά εγώ μένω στην πόλη?

Roughly in English-like phonetics:

Οι δικοί μου → ee thee-KEE moo
μένουν → MEH-noon
σε χωριό → se kho-RYÓ (kh like a rough h in “Bach”)
αλλά → a-LA
εγώ → e-GHÓ (gh like voiced French r, soft)
μένω → MEH-no
στην πόλη → steen PO-lee

Stress is shown by the capitalized syllables above: δι-ΚΟΙ, ΜΕ-νουν, χω-ΡΙΟ, α-ΛΑ, ε-ΓΩ, ΜΕ-νο, ΠΟ-λη.

Why does οι δικοί μου take a plural verb (μένουν) if it means “my family,” which is singular in English?

In Greek, οι δικοί μου is grammatically plural (it’s literally my own [ones], referring to multiple people), so the verb is also plural:

Οι δικοί μου μένουν… – They live…

Even η οικογένειά μου (my family) is grammatically singular and would take a singular verb:

Η οικογένειά μου μένει σε χωριό. – My family lives in a village.

So:

Οι δικοί μου μένουν… – plural subject → plural verb
Η οικογένειά μου μένει… – singular subject → singular verb

English sometimes uses a singular noun (family) for a group; Greek grammar follows the actual number form of the subject.