Learn Farsi: آنها اینجا چطور زندگی می‌کنند؟

Unlike English, Farsi doesn't usually move question words to the front of the sentence. Instead, the question word sits in the exact spot where the answer would go. If the answer was 'They live here happily', 'happily' would go right before the verb. So, the question word چطور (how) takes that exact same spot!

Why does 'live' translate to two words, زندگی می‌کنند?

زندگی کردن (zendegi kardan) is a compound verb, which is a very common type of verb in Farsi made of a noun plus a 'helper' verb. It literally means 'to do life.' زندگی means 'life,' and می‌کنند is the 'they' form of the verb 'to do.'

What does the -ند at the end of می‌کنند do?

That is the verb ending for 'they.' Since the subject of the sentence is آنها (they), the verb must match it by ending in -ند (-and). You will see this matching ending on almost all verbs when the subject is 'they.'

Could I change the word order and say آنها چطور اینجا زندگی می‌کنند؟ instead?

Yes, you can! Farsi word order is quite flexible. However, the standard sentence order usually puts the place (اینجا - here) before how something is done (چطور - how), so the original sentence is the most natural-sounding option.