Breakdown of Οι φίλοι μου λένε ότι προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
Questions & Answers about Οι φίλοι μου λένε ότι προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
In Greek, the unstressed possessive pronouns (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους) normally come after the noun:
- ο φίλος μου – my friend
- οι φίλοι μου – my friends
- το βιβλίο σου – your book
So Οι φίλοι μου literally is “the friends my”, but that’s just the regular Greek order for “my friends”. Putting μου before the noun (μου οι φίλοι) is either wrong or sounds very marked/poetic in modern everyday Greek.
The Greek sentence as written:
Οι φίλοι μου λένε ότι…
literally means:
My friends say that…
There is no “me” in it.
If you specifically want “My friends tell me that…”, you should say:
Οι φίλοι μου μου λένε ότι προσαρμόζονται…
My friends tell me that they adapt…
Here the second μου (before λένε) is the indirect object “to me”. The first μου (after φίλοι) is the possessive “my”.
So:
- Οι φίλοι μου λένε… = My friends say…
- Οι φίλοι μου μου λένε… = My friends tell me…
λένε is the normal, everyday 3rd person plural present tense of λέω (to say):
- λέω – I say
- λες – you say
- λέει – he/she/it says
- λέμε – we say
- λέτε – you (pl.) say
- λένε – they say
λέγουν(ε) is a more formal or older variant of λένε, rarely used in casual speech.
If you wanted past tense, you would use είπαν:
- Οι φίλοι μου είπαν ότι…
My friends said that…
So λένε here expresses something general or current (they say / they are saying), not something that happened once in the past.
In this sentence, ότι is the conjunction “that”, introducing a reported statement:
Οι φίλοι μου λένε ότι προσαρμόζονται…
My friends say that they adapt…
You can also use πως in the same way in modern Greek:
Οι φίλοι μου λένε πως προσαρμόζονται…
In this use, ότι and πως are interchangeable (with minor stylistic preferences).
Be careful with similar-looking forms:
- τι (without accent) = “what?” (question word)
- ό,τι (with comma) = “whatever / anything that”
So:
- ότι = that (conjunction)
- τι; = what?
- ό,τι = whatever / anything that
προσαρμόζονται is:
- present tense
- 3rd person plural
- middle/passive voice of προσαρμόζομαι
The basic active verb is προσαρμόζω (to adjust something), but in Greek, when you adjust/adapt yourself, you normally use the middle form:
- προσαρμόζομαι – I adapt (myself), I get used
- προσαρμόζεσαι – you adapt
- προσαρμόζεται – he/she/it adapts
- προσαρμοζόμαστε – we adapt
- προσαρμόζεστε – you (pl.) adapt
- προσαρμόζονται – they adapt
So προσαρμόζονται means “they adapt / they are adapting / they get used”. The subject (here: Οι φίλοι μου) is doing the adapting.
προσαρμόζουν is the active 3rd person plural of προσαρμόζω, meaning “they adjust (something)”.
- Προσαρμόζουν το πρόγραμμα.
They adjust the schedule.
But in your sentence, they are not adjusting something else; they themselves are adapting to an environment. In Greek, that idea is expressed with the middle/passive form:
- Προσαρμόζονται σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
They adapt / They get used to a foreign environment.
So:
- προσαρμόζουν κάτι – they adjust something
- προσαρμόζονται (σε κάτι) – they adapt (to something)
Here δύσκολα is an adverb, not an adjective. It describes how they adapt (the manner), not what is difficult.
- δύσκολος, -η, -ο (adjective) = difficult (describes a noun)
- δύσκολα (adverb) = with difficulty / hard / in a difficult way (describes a verb)
In the sentence:
προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα
πιο δύσκολα = “more difficultly / harder” (they adapt harder).
If you used the adjective:
- πιο δύσκολο / πιο δύσκολη / πιο δύσκολος
you would need a noun, e.g.- Είναι πιο δύσκολο να προσαρμοστούν.
It is more difficult for them to adapt.
- Είναι πιο δύσκολο να προσαρμοστούν.
Both are correct:
- πιο δύσκολα – more difficultly, harder
- δυσκολότερα – more difficultly, harder
πιο + adjective/adverb is the most common spoken pattern for comparatives in modern Greek. The “-ότερος/-ότερα/-ότερο” forms also exist and are more formal or literary, but still used.
So you can say:
- Προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
- Προσαρμόζονται δυσκολότερα σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
Meaning is essentially the same; πιο δύσκολα sounds more neutral/colloquial.
Yes, Greek word order is flexible, and all of these are possible:
- Προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
- Πιο δύσκολα προσαρμόζονται σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
- Σε ξένο περιβάλλον προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα.
The basic meaning is the same. Changing the order can slightly shift the emphasis:
- Προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα… – neutral: focuses on the process of adapting.
- Πιο δύσκολα προσαρμόζονται… – puts a bit more emphasis on “more difficultly / harder”.
- Σε ξένο περιβάλλον προσαρμόζονται πιο δύσκολα. – emphasizes the environment first.
Both are possible, but they’re slightly different in nuance.
σε ξένο περιβάλλον
More general/typical: “in a foreign environment” (any foreign environment in general).σε ένα ξένο περιβάλλον
Feels a bit more specific: “in a/one foreign environment” (a particular foreign setting, at least in the speaker’s mind).
Greek often omits the article with:
- abstract, general, or non-specific notions
- mass/uncountable-like ideas
περιβάλλον (environment) used in a general sense often appears without an article in such expressions:
- σε δύσκολο περιβάλλον – in a difficult environment
- σε εχθρικό περιβάλλον – in a hostile environment
So σε ξένο περιβάλλον is very natural for “in a foreign environment (in general)”.
Literally ξένο περιβάλλον = “foreign environment”.
Depending on context, it can mean:
An environment in another country or culture
- Moving abroad, living in a country with a different language and customs.
More broadly, any unfamiliar environment
- A new workplace with very different rules
- A new social circle where you feel like an outsider
- A very different school or city
So it doesn’t have to be another country; it’s basically an environment that feels “not your own / unfamiliar”. Context decides whether it’s strictly “foreign (national)” or just “new/strange to you”.
The preposition σε contracts with articles (and sometimes with pronouns), but here there is no article:
- σε το → στο
- σε τον → στον
- σε την → στη(ν)
- σε το ξένο περιβάλλον → στο ξένο περιβάλλον
Since the sentence uses no article (ξένο περιβάλλον is indefinite/general), σε remains separate:
- σε ξένο περιβάλλον – correct and natural
- στο ξένο περιβάλλον – would also be correct but means “in the foreign environment” (more specific).
- σ’ ξένο περιβάλλον – this could occur only as a very informal/slurred pronunciation in fast speech; in writing we normally keep σε ξένο περιβάλλον.
From the verb ending and agreement:
- προσαρμόζονται is 3rd person plural.
- Οι φίλοι μου is plural: “my friends”.
- περιβάλλον is neuter singular (“environment”).
So the only plural noun phrase available as subject in the sentence is Οι φίλοι μου. Therefore:
- Οι φίλοι μου προσαρμόζονται…
My friends adapt…
The environment is the thing they adapt to, not the thing that is doing the adapting.
Greek has gendered plural forms:
- οι φίλοι – male friends OR mixed group (male + female)
- οι φίλες – only female friends
Use:
- Οι φίλες μου only if the group is entirely female and you want to highlight that.
- Οι φίλοι μου if:
- the group is all male,
- the group is mixed,
- or you are speaking generically, not focusing on gender.
In many situations, even if the group is all women, speakers might still say Οι φίλοι μου in a more generic way, but Οι φίλες μου is the more precise all-female form.