Трое ждут здесь.

Трое is a collective numeral. Russian often uses collective numerals when talking about a group of people, especially when the noun is not stated.

So in this sentence, трое works like three people / the three of them.

Compare:

• Трое ждут здесь. = Three people are waiting here.
• Три человека ждут здесь. = also correct, but with the noun человека stated explicitly.

A bare три by itself would usually sound incomplete here.

Yes. The implied idea is people.

That is one reason трое is useful: it can stand alone without a noun and still clearly mean three people or the three of them.

So Russian does not need to say люди or человека here.

Because трое refers to more than one person, so the verb agrees in the plural.

• ждут = they wait / are waiting
• singular would be ждёт = he/she/it waits

Even though трое is one word, it still means a group of three, so plural agreement is required.

Ждут is the 3rd person plural present-tense form of ждать.

So the pattern is:

• я жду
• ты ждёшь
• он/она ждёт
• мы ждём
• вы ждёте
• они ждут

In this sentence, трое matches the same verb form you would use with они.

Here трое is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence.

If the form changed in another sentence, it could look different. For example:

• Я вижу троих. = accusative, for people
• У троих есть билеты. = genitive

But in Трое ждут здесь, nominative is the correct form.

Yes. In Russian, just like in English, ждать can be used without an object if the context is clear or if the speaker simply means to wait.

So Трое ждут здесь is complete by itself.

If you wanted to add what they are waiting for, you could do that too, for example:

• Трое ждут автобус.
• Трое ждут друга.

But it is not necessary in this sentence.

Здесь means here in the sense of location.

That fits this sentence because it answers where they are waiting.

• здесь = here, at this place
• сюда = to here, to this place

So:

• Трое ждут здесь. = correct
• Трое ждут сюда. = not correct in this meaning

A useful contrast is:

• Они здесь. = They are here.
• Они идут сюда. = They are coming here.

Yes. Тут and здесь are very close in meaning, and in many everyday situations they are interchangeable.

So Трое ждут тут is possible in разговорная речь, everyday speech.

Very roughly:

• здесь can sound a little more neutral or standard
• тут can sound a little more conversational

But the difference is usually small.

No. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it often changes the focus rather than the basic meaning.

• Трое ждут здесь. = neutral
• Здесь ждут трое. = emphasis on three people
• Трое здесь ждут. = emphasis on here

So the original order is natural, but it is not the only possible order.

This is a good question, because it is one of the tricky points with collective numerals.

As a rule, collective numerals like трое are most naturally used for:

• male groups
• mixed groups
• children
• pronouns such as нас трое, их трое

If you are explicitly talking about three women, Russian usually prefers:

• три женщины

and not трое женщины.

When трое stands alone, as in this sentence, it can simply mean three people, and the exact gender may depend on context. But for learners, the safest rule is:

• трое = good for people in general when no noun is stated, especially men/mixed groups
• три женщины = better when you specifically mean women

The verb ждать here is imperfective.

That means the sentence presents the action as an ongoing or current situation: they are in the state of waiting.

Russian present-tense forms are made from imperfective verbs, so ждут is normal here.

If you used a perfective verb, the meaning would change and would usually point to the future, not a simple present situation. So ждут is exactly what you want for a sentence like this.

The main word stress is:

• трОе
• ждУт
• здЕсь

So you can pronounce it as:

трОе ждУт здЕсь

Also, ждут begins with a consonant cluster жд-, which may feel unusual for English speakers, but it is completely normal in Russian.