Learn Farsi: هشت دانشجو در کلاس استاد هستند. - There are eight students in the professor's class.

For people, the verb usually matches the logical meaning. Because eight students are more than one person, we use the plural 'are' (هستند) even though the word for student is written in the singular form.

How does کلاس استاد mean 'the professor's class'?

Farsi connects these two words using an invisible 'e' sound called the Ezafe. It links a noun to its owner or description. So, کلاس (class) plus the 'e' sound connected to استاد (professor) becomes 'the class of the professor'.

Can I use هستند to mean 'there are' in Farsi?

Yes! Unlike English which uses phrases like 'there is' or 'there are', Farsi just uses the regular verb 'to be' at the end of the sentence to show existence. So the sentence literally reads as 'Eight student in class of professor are.'