Questions & Answers about آنها هنرمندند و شما مکانیکید.
Where is the verb "are" in this sentence?
Farsi often doesn't use a separate word for "is" or "are". Instead, it uses short endings (called the enclitic copula) attached directly to the end of the noun. Here, the ending -and is attached to هنرمند (artist) to mean "they are," and the ending -id is attached to مکانیک (mechanic) to mean "you are."
The English translation says "artists" and "mechanics". Why aren't the Farsi words pluralized?
In Farsi, when you state someone's profession or nationality using the verb "to be", the noun usually stays singular. The plural subject pronouns (آنها and شما) and their matching plural verb endings (-and and -id) already make it perfectly clear that you are talking about multiple people.
Can I drop the pronouns آنها (they) and شما (you) from this sentence?
Yes! Because the verb endings -and and -id tell us exactly who the subject is, the pronouns are completely optional. You could just say هنرمندند و مکانیکید and it would mean the exact same thing. Including the pronouns at the start of the clauses just adds a little emphasis.
How do I know if شما مکانیکید means "you all are mechanics" or if it is just being polite to one mechanic?
Out of context, you don't! شما (shomâ) and its matching verb ending -id are used for both the plural "you all" and the polite, formal singular "you." The translation here assumes "you all" to match the plural "they" in the first half of the sentence, but you would use this exact same phrasing to respectfully address a single mechanic.