אלה אנשים בתחנה, והם מחכים לאוטובוס.

These are people at the station, and they are waiting for the bus.

Breakdown of אלה אנשים בתחנה, והם מחכים לאוטובוס.

• ו: and
• ב: at
• אוטובוס: bus
• לחכות: to wait

Questions & Answers about אלה אנשים בתחנה, והם מחכים לאוטובוס.

Does אלה אנשים mean these people or these are people?

In this sentence, אלה אנשים means these are people.

That is because אלה is standing as the subject of a full sentence, not just modifying the noun.

If you wanted to say these people as one noun phrase, standard Hebrew would usually be:

האנשים האלה

So:

• אלה אנשים = These are people
• האנשים האלה = these people

Why is there no word for are in אלה אנשים?

Because Hebrew usually leaves out the verb to be in the present tense.

So Hebrew says:

אלה אנשים
literally: these people
but meaning: these are people

This is very normal in Hebrew. In the past or future, Hebrew does use forms of to be, but not usually in simple present-tense sentences like this one.

Why doesn’t the sentence say אלה הם אנשים?

It could. אלה הם אנשים is also grammatical.

But Hebrew often prefers the shorter version:

אלה אנשים

Adding הם can make the sentence a little more explicit or emphatic, but it is not required here.

So both are possible, but the version in your sentence is very natural.