الجيران في هذا المبنى يعملون في المستشفى أو يدرسون في الجامعة.

The singular is جار, meaning neighbor.

The plural جيران is a broken plural, which means the inside of the word changes instead of just adding a regular ending. This is very common in Arabic. So you usually need to learn:

• جار = neighbor
• جيران = neighbors

A native English speaker often expects something like a neat -s plural, but Arabic very often uses these irregular-looking plural patterns.

Because Arabic allows a topic-first structure very naturally.

So الجيران في هذا المبنى... is like saying:

As for the neighbors in this building, they...

This is completely normal in MSA. It puts focus on the neighbors first.

If you started with the verb in formal Arabic, the structure would change, and the agreement pattern can also change. So for learners, this sentence is a good example of a very common noun-first pattern.

The ending -ون marks the verbs as third person masculine plural in the imperfect tense.

So:

• يعمل = he works
• يعملون = they work

and

• يدرس = he studies
• يدرسون = they study

The subject الجيران refers to a group of people, so the verbs appear in the plural form.

Because Arabic verbs already include the subject information.

So يعملون already means they work, and يدرسون already means they study. You do not need to add هم unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• هم يعملون = they work / they are working

In your sentence, the subject is already clear from الجيران, so no extra pronoun is needed.

They are in the imperfect, which often covers:

• present actions
• habitual actions
• general facts
• sometimes near-future meaning, depending on context

Here, the most natural meaning is habitual/general:

• they work in the hospital
• they study at the university

So this is not necessarily about what they are doing right now at this exact moment. It is more about what they generally do.

In this sentence, في هذا المبنى most naturally describes الجيران.

So the meaning is:

the neighbors in this building

not

the neighbors work in this building

Arabic often uses a prepositional phrase after a noun to describe it. So:

• الرجل في البيت = the man in the house
• الجيران في هذا المبنى = the neighbors in this building

That is the natural reading here.

In standard Arabic, when a demonstrative like هذا is followed by a noun, that noun is usually definite, so it takes الـ.

So Arabic says:

• هذا المبنى = this building
• هذه الجامعة = this university
• هذا الكتاب = this book

That is different from English, where this can be followed by a bare noun. In Arabic, the noun after هذا / هذه is normally definite.

Because Arabic often repeats the preposition with each coordinated phrase, and that is very natural and clear.

So:

• في المستشفى أو في الجامعة

means:

• in the hospital or at the university

In your sentence, the second في is explicitly present before الجامعة, which makes the structure very clear.

Repeating the preposition is common and often preferred in careful written Arabic.

أو means or.

In this sentence, it presents two alternatives:

• some of the neighbors work in the hospital
• or some of them study at the university

It does not have to mean that each individual neighbor does only one and never the other. It simply gives two possibilities within the group.

So for a plural subject like الجيران, أو often means the group is divided between these two situations.

Because the sentence is talking about the hospital and the university, not just any hospital or any university.

So:

• في المستشفى = in the hospital
• في الجامعة = at the university

Arabic can also use the indefinite form if that is what you mean:

• في مستشفى = in a hospital
• في جامعة = at a university

So the definite article here tells you these are understood as definite institutions in the context.

The final ى is called alif maqṣūrah. It looks a bit like ي without dots, but it is pronounced like a long ā sound.

So:

• المبنى is pronounced al-mabnā
• المستشفى is pronounced al-mustashfā

That final letter does not sound like ee. It sounds like aa.

This spelling is very common in Arabic, so it is worth getting used to early.

Yes, it could.

الجيران is commonly used for a mixed group or a general group, and masculine plural agreement is the default in Arabic for mixed/unspecified human groups.

If you specifically wanted female neighbors, you could use:

• الجارات = the female neighbors

Then the verbs would also change to feminine plural:

• يعملن = they work
• يدرسن = they study

So a feminine version could be:

الجارات في هذا المبنى يعملن في المستشفى أو يدرسن في الجامعة.

That is a useful contrast to know, even though masculine plural is the default for mixed groups.