watasi no nakama ga matte imasu.

A natural reading is:

私の仲間が待っています。
わたし の なかま が まって います。
watashi no nakama ga matte imasu

A few notes:

• 私 = わたし
• 仲間 = なかま
• 待って comes from the verb 待つ and is read まって
• います is います

In normal writing, you will often see it as 待っています without spaces.

の connects nouns and often shows possession or belonging.

So:

• 私 = I / me
• 私の = my
• 仲間 = companion, friend, teammate, associate

That makes 私の仲間 mean my companion / my friend / my teammate, depending on context.

You can think of A の B as meaning something like:

• B of A
• or more naturally in English, A’s B

So 私の仲間 is literally companion of me, which becomes my companion in natural English.

Not exactly.

仲間 often means someone in your group, circle, team, or side. Depending on context, it can mean:

• companion
• friend
• teammate
• colleague
• ally
• one of us

Compared with 友達, which is a more straightforward word for friend, 仲間 has more of a group-membership feeling.

So if someone says 私の仲間, it may suggest:

• a friend from the same group
• a fellow member
• a companion on the same side
• someone I’m associated with

The best English translation depends on the situation.

が marks the grammatical subject of the verb.

In this sentence:

• 私の仲間が = my companion is the one doing the action
• 待っています = is waiting

So が tells you that my companion is the one who is waiting.

Why not は?

• が often presents or identifies the subject
• は often marks the topic, something already being talked about or contrasted

So:

• 私の仲間が待っています = My companion is waiting
• 私の仲間は待っています could sound more like As for my companion, they are waiting or could imply contrast, depending on context

In many beginner examples, が is used because it simply marks who is doing the action.

Because Japanese usually follows a subject-object-verb pattern, and the verb normally comes at the end.

English:

• My companion is waiting

Japanese:

• My companion
  • subject marker
    • waiting is

So:

• 私の仲間が = my companion
• 待っています = is waiting

This verb-final structure is very normal in Japanese.

待っています is the -te form + います pattern.

For many verbs, this pattern expresses an action that is ongoing. Here it means:

• is waiting

Compare:

• 待つ = to wait, plain dictionary form
• 待ちます = wait / will wait, polite non-past
• 待っています = is waiting, polite progressive

So:

• 私の仲間が待ちます would sound more like my companion will wait or waits
• 私の仲間が待っています means the waiting is happening now

This is the most natural form if you want to describe someone currently waiting.

Yes. They are the same word.

You may see it written in two ways:

• 待っています
• 待っています

The first one uses the kanji 待 and is the standard mixed-kanji writing.
The second one writes the same word with the kanji only on the main verb part and keeps the rest in hiragana.

In your spaced sentence, 待って　います is just being separated for learning purposes. In normal writing, it is usually written together as:

待っています

Yes. It is polite because it ends with います.

The verb pairings are:

• casual: 待っている
• polite: 待っています

So:

• 私の仲間が待っている。 = casual
• 私の仲間が待っています。 = polite

The polite form is appropriate in many normal situations, especially when speaking to someone you do not know well, a teacher, a customer, a coworker in formal speech, and so on.

Yes, very often.

Japanese frequently omits information that is clear from context. If it is already obvious whose companion you mean, you could just say:

仲間が待っています。

That would mean something like:

• The companion is waiting
• My companion is waiting
• Our companion is waiting

The exact meaning would depend on context.

Japanese often leaves out words that English usually keeps.

It could be either, depending on context.

Japanese nouns usually do not change form for singular vs. plural the way English nouns do.

So 仲間 can mean:

• companion / teammate / friend
• companions / teammates / friends

If the meaning shown to you is singular, that is because the context supports singular. But without context, 私の仲間が待っています could sometimes refer to:

• one companion waiting
• my group waiting, if the context allows that interpretation

If a speaker wants to make plurality clearer, they might use context or add another expression.

Yes. Even if the basic meaning is already known, the best English wording depends on context.

Possible translations include:

• My companion is waiting.
• My friend is waiting.
• My teammate is waiting.
• One of my companions is waiting.
• Someone from my group is waiting.

That is because 仲間 is broader than any single English word. Japanese often leaves some things slightly open, and English translation has to choose the wording that fits the situation best.