Хозяин ждёт гостей.

Russian has no articles, so nouns like хозяин and гостей can mean the host / a host and the guests / guests depending on context.

So Хозяин ждёт гостей could be understood as:

• The host is waiting for guests
• A host is waiting for guests

In real use, the situation usually makes it clear which one is meant.

That is a very common question. In Russian, ждать does not use a preposition like English wait for. It takes the thing or person waited for directly.

So:

• ждать гостей = to wait for guests
• literally, it looks more like to await guests

This is just a pattern you need to learn with the verb ждать.

Because гости is the nominative plural form, used for the subject of a sentence:

• Гости пришли. = The guests arrived.

But in Хозяин ждёт гостей, guests is the object, not the subject, so it changes form.

With animate plural nouns like гости, the object form is гостей. So:

• гости = subject form
• гостей = object form here

That is why you cannot say Хозяин ждёт гости in standard Russian.

This is a good question because the form looks the same.

For plural animate nouns, the accusative plural is the same as the genitive plural:

• гости → гостей

Also, the verb ждать is a verb that often appears with a form historically associated with the genitive, and in modern Russian there is some overlap between genitive and accusative usage with this verb.

For a learner, the most practical takeaway is:

• after ждать, expect гостей, not гости
• with animate plural nouns, the form often looks like the genitive plural anyway

So even if the deeper grammar is a bit complicated, the sentence form itself is completely normal.

Хозяин can mean several related things, depending on context:

• host
• owner
• master
• man of the house

In this sentence, the most natural meaning is usually host or the man receiving visitors/guests.

So if the meaning shown to you was The host is waiting for guests, that is a very natural interpretation.

Ждёт is pronounced roughly zhdyot.

The letter ё:

• is always stressed
• sounds like yo

So:

• ждёт = zhdyot

A useful extra point: in normal Russian writing, ё is often replaced by е, so you may also see:

• ждет

But the intended pronunciation in this word is still ждёт.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English because the case endings show the grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Хозяин ждёт гостей.

But you could also say:

• Гостей ждёт хозяин.

That version puts more emphasis on гостей or sets them up as the topic/focus.

So the basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis can change.

It can do both, depending on context.

Ждёт is present tense, imperfective. It can mean:

• is waiting right now
• waits
• is expecting

In this sentence, without extra context, many learners will naturally understand it as:

• The host is waiting for guests

But in the right situation it could also describe a general or repeated situation.

The dictionary form is ждать.

ждёт is the 3rd person singular present-tense form, used with he / she / it or with a singular noun like хозяин.

So:

• я жду = I wait / I am waiting
• ты ждёшь = you wait
• он / она ждёт = he / she waits
• хозяин ждёт = the host waits / is waiting

Because the verb agrees with the subject, not with the object.

Here:

• хозяин = subject, singular
• гостей = object, plural

So the verb must be singular:

• Хозяин ждёт гостей.

If the subject were plural, then the verb would be plural:

• Хозяева ждут гостей. = The hosts are waiting for guests.