Learn Hardcore Greek: Στην αρχή όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές νιώθουν λίγο χαμένοι. - At first all foreign students feel a bit lost.

before a vowel: στην αρχή, την ώρα, έναν άνθρωπο
often also before some consonants (π, τ, κ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ), e.g. στην πόλη, την καρέκλα

Since αρχή starts with a vowel (α), we must keep the ν:
→ στην αρχή, not στη αρχή.

What case is αρχή in, and why?

Αρχή here is feminine singular accusative.

The preposition σε (“in, at, to”) governs the accusative case.
The base form of the noun is η αρχή (nominative).
In the singular, nominative and accusative are both αρχή, so the form looks the same.

So στην αρχή = σε + την + αρχή (accusative) → “at the beginning / at first.”

In English we say “at first” without “the”. Why does Greek say στην αρχή with “την” (the)?

Greek uses the definite article more often than English.

Time expressions often take an article in Greek even when English doesn’t:

το πρωί – in the morning
το βράδυ – at night / in the evening
τη Δευτέρα – on Monday
στην αρχή – at first / in the beginning

So while English says “at first”, Greek keeps the article and says “in the the‑beginning” literally, which just sounds natural and idiomatic in Greek.

Why do we have both όλοι and οι in όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές? Could we drop one?

οι φοιτητές = the students
όλοι οι φοιτητές = all the students

Όλοι means “all”, and οι is the definite article (“the”).
In standard Greek, you normally keep both:

✔ όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές – all (of) the foreign students

If you say όλοι ξένοι φοιτητές without οι, it sounds odd or ungrammatical in standard modern Greek. You almost always use όλοι together with a definite article before the noun: όλοι οι άνθρωποι, όλοι οι φίλοι μου, etc.

How is the phrase όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές structured? Where do adjectives go?

The order here is:

όλοι – quantifier (“all”)
οι – definite article (“the”)
ξένοι – adjective (“foreign”)
φοιτητές – noun (“students”)

So the typical pattern is:

[quantifier] + [article] + [adjective] + [noun]

Other examples:

όλοι οι καλοί φίλοι – all the good friends
όλοι οι παλιοί μου καθηγητές – all my former teachers

The adjective usually goes between the article and the noun in this “normal” attributive position.

What does νιώθουν mean here, and what verb form is it?

Νιώθουν means “(they) feel”.

It is:

present tense
active voice
indicative mood
3rd person plural of the verb νιώθω (“to feel”)

Conjugation (present):

εγώ νιώθω – I feel
εσύ νιώθεις – you feel
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό νιώθει – he/she/it feels
εμείς νιώθουμε – we feel
εσείς νιώθετε – you (pl.) feel
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά νιώθουν(ε) – they feel

The subject όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές is plural, so the verb is νιώθουν.

Could we use αισθάνονται instead of νιώθουν?

Yes, you can say:

Στην αρχή όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές αισθάνονται λίγο χαμένοι.

Αισθάνονται is 3rd person plural of αισθάνομαι (“to feel”).

Differences in nuance:

νιώθω – very common, everyday, slightly more informal.
αισθάνομαι – a bit more formal/literary, but also completely normal in speech.

In this sentence, both are correct and mean essentially the same thing.

What does λίγο mean here, and how is it different from λίγοι?

Here λίγο means “a little / a bit” and works like an adverb modifying the adjective χαμένοι:

λίγο χαμένοι – a little / a bit lost

Λίγο (neuter singular) is often used as an indeclinable adverb:
λίγο κουρασμένος, λίγο αγχωμένη, λίγο αργά, etc.

By contrast, λίγοι is an adjective meaning “few (in number)”:

λίγοι φοιτητές – few students
λίγες μέρες – few days

So:

λίγο χαμένοι – slightly lost (degree)
λίγοι χαμένοι φοιτητές – few lost students (number)

What is χαμένοι exactly, and why is it masculine plural?

Χαμένοι is a past participle used as an adjective, from the verb χάνομαι (“to get lost; to be lost”), ultimately from χάνω (“to lose”).

Here:

it describes the subject οι ξένοι φοιτητές
it agrees in gender, number, and case with that subject:
- gender: masculine
- number: plural
- case: nominative

So:

ο χαμένος φοιτητής – the lost (male) student
οι χαμένοι φοιτητές – the lost (male / mixed) students

Even if the group has both men and women, Greek uses masculine plural as the default for mixed or unknown-gender groups, just like:

οι Έλληνες can mean “Greek men” or “Greeks (men and women)”.

How would the sentence change if we were talking only about female students?

You would change everything that refers to the students into feminine plural:

Στην αρχή όλες οι ξένες φοιτήτριες νιώθουν λίγο χαμένες.

Changes:

όλοι → όλες (fem. plural of “all”)
ξένοι → ξένες (fem. plural of “foreign”)
φοιτητές → φοιτήτριες (fem. plural of “students at university”)
χαμένοι → χαμένες (fem. plural of “lost”)

Everything else stays the same.

Why don’t we have είναι (“are”) before χαμένοι? Can we say νιώθουν είναι χαμένοι?

In Greek, verbs like νιώθω, αισθάνομαι, είμαι can take an adjective directly, without another είναι:

νιώθω κουρασμένος – I feel tired
νιώθουν λίγο χαμένοι – they feel a bit lost

So νιώθουν λίγο χαμένοι is complete and correct; adding είναι would be wrong:

✘ νιώθουν είναι χαμένοι – incorrect

You could say instead:

Στην αρχή όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές είναι λίγο χαμένοι. – At first all the foreign students are a bit lost.

That changes the verb from “feel” (νιώθουν) to “are” (είναι).

Can we change the word order in this sentence? For example, Όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές στην αρχή νιώθουν λίγο χαμένοι?

Yes. Greek word order is quite flexible. These are all grammatically correct:

Στην αρχή όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές νιώθουν λίγο χαμένοι.
– Neutral: “At first, all the foreign students feel a bit lost.”
Όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές στην αρχή νιώθουν λίγο χαμένοι.
– Slight extra emphasis on “all the foreign students” first.
Όλοι οι ξένοι φοιτητές νιώθουν λίγο χαμένοι στην αρχή.
– Emphasis on the time at the end (“…at first”).

The basic components (time expression, subject, verb, complement) can move, but the meaning stays essentially the same; only the emphasis or rhythm changes slightly.