Сначала новая столовая казалась мне непривычной, но сейчас я уже знаю все любимые блюда.

I

Breakdown of Сначала новая столовая казалась мне непривычной, но сейчас я уже знаю все любимые блюда.

• новый: new
• мне: me
• сейчас: now

Questions & Answers about Сначала новая столовая казалась мне непривычной, но сейчас я уже знаю все любимые блюда.

What exactly does Сначала mean here, and how is it different from во‑первых or вначале?

Сначала here means “at first / in the beginning” in a temporal sense: it contrasts the initial situation with the one “now.”

• Сначала = at first, initially (time).
• во‑первых = firstly, first of all (for listing arguments, not time).
• вначале is close to сначала, but can sound a bit more formal or literary and is often tied to the beginning of a process, story, text, etc.

In this sentence, Сначала is natural because we are talking about how the speaker first felt in contrast to how they feel now.

Why is столовая feminine, and what exactly does it mean?

Столовая is grammatically feminine because it ends in -ая, which is a common feminine ending in Russian.

Originally, столовая was an adjective meaning something like “table-related” or “dining”, used with a noun like комната (room). Over time it turned into a noun on its own:

• столовая (комната) → dining room
• in modern usage, very often canteen / cafeteria (especially in schools, universities, workplaces)

In this sentence, новая столовая is best translated as “the new cafeteria” or “the new dining hall.”