Артисты стоят за кулисами.

The performers are standing backstage.

Breakdown of Артисты стоят за кулисами.

• стоять: to stand
• за: behind
• артист: the performer
• кулиса: the wing

Questions & Answers about Артисты стоят за кулисами.

What exactly does артисты mean? Is it the same as English artists?

No, артисты is not the same as English artists in the general sense.

• артист / артисты usually means performer(s) – people who perform on stage: actors, singers, dancers, circus performers, etc.
• For someone who paints or draws (a visual artist), Russian normally uses художник (plural художники).

So Артисты стоят за кулисами is better translated as “The performers are standing backstage”, not “The artists are standing backstage.”

Why isn’t there a word for “are” in the sentence? Why don’t we see something like они + есть?

Russian does not use the present tense of быть (to be) in simple statements like this.

• English: They are backstage.
• Russian: Они за кулисами. (literally: They backstage. – the “are” is just omitted)

In your sentence, the verb стоят already provides the idea of “are standing”, so there is no need for an extra “are”:

• Артисты стоят за кулисами.
  Literally: Performers stand behind-the-scenes.

Using есть here (Артисты есть за кулисами) would be incorrect and unnatural.

Does стоят mean “stand” or “are standing”? Is there a progressive form in Russian?

стоят is the 3rd person plural of стоять (to stand). Russian has one present tense form that covers both:

• Артисты стоят за кулисами.
  Can be translated as:
  • The performers are standing backstage. (progressive)
  • The performers stand backstage. (simple present)

Russian doesn’t have a separate present continuous form like English. Context usually tells you whether it’s a current, ongoing action or a general habit. Here, context (theatre, “backstage”) makes it clearly a current situation: they are currently standing there.

Why is there no они in the sentence? Shouldn’t it be Они стоят за кулисами?

It can be Они стоят за кулисами, but it’s not required.

Russian often drops personal pronouns (я, ты, он, она, они, etc.) when the subject is clear from the verb form or from context. The verb ending -ят in стоят already tells us the subject is they (3rd person plural).

So:

• Артисты стоят за кулисами. – The performers are standing backstage.
• Они стоят за кулисами. – They are standing backstage.

Both are correct; the first explicitly names who they are; the second relies on previous context to know who они refers to.

What is the difference between артисты and актёры?

Both can refer to people in the performing arts, but there is a nuance:

• актёр / актёры – specifically actor(s) in drama, film, theatre.
• артист / артисты – broader: stage performer(s) of many types:
  • theatre actors
  • singers
  • dancers
  • circus performers
  • variety show performers, etc.

In a theatre context, артисты can include the whole performing company, not just dramatic actors. So Артисты стоят за кулисами could describe any sort of stage performers who are about to go on.

What case is кулисами, and why is it used with за here?

кулисами is instrumental plural of кулиса.

The preposition за can take either instrumental or accusative, and the meaning changes:

• за
  • instrumental → location: behind / beyond something
    • за столом – behind/at the table
    • за домом – behind the house
    • за кулисами – behind the stage wings → backstage
• за
  • accusative → movement to behind something
    • идти за стол – to go to sit at the table
    • уйти за дом – to go behind the house
    • уйти за кулисы – to go backstage / go behind the curtains

Your sentence uses за кулисами (instrumental), so it describes where they are (location), not where they are going (movement).

What does кулисы literally mean? Is it always used in the plural?

Кулиса (usually used in the plural кулисы) is a theatre term:

• Literally: the side curtains / side flats on a stage that hide the backstage area from the audience.
• By extension, за кулисами (literally: behind the wings/curtains) has the idiomatic meaning “backstage, behind the scenes”.

In everyday language, you’ll almost always see:

• кулисы (plural)
• за кулисами = backstage
• выйти на сцену из-за кулис = come on stage from backstage

You don’t normally talk about a single кулиса outside very technical theatre jargon.

Are there synonyms for за кулисами that also mean “backstage”?

Yes, there are a few ways to express a similar idea, though за кулисами is the most idiomatic, theatre-specific phrase.

Possible alternatives (depending on context):

• за сценой – literally “behind the stage”
  
  • Артисты стоят за сценой.
• в закулисье – a more literary/abstract noun meaning “the backstage area” / “behind-the-scenes world”
  • Журналист писал о театральном закулисье.

But in a simple, concrete sentence like yours, за кулисами is the natural and standard way to say “backstage.”

Can I change the word order to За кулисами стоят артисты? Does the meaning change?

You can, and the basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis shifts slightly.

• Артисты стоят за кулисами.
  Neutral statement: who is standing (the performers) and where (backstage).
• За кулисами стоят артисты.
  Slight emphasis on where: As for backstage, it’s performers who are standing there.
  This might contrast with somewhere else, e.g.:
  • На сцене поёт солист, а за кулисами стоят артисты.
    The soloist is singing on stage, and backstage the performers are standing.

Both are grammatically correct. Russian word order is flexible; stress and information structure decide which order sounds most natural in context.

How do you pronounce артисты стоят за кулисами? Where are the stresses?

Stresses:

• артисты – ar-ТИ-сты
• стоят – sta-ЯТ (NOT СТО-ят)
• за – za (one syllable, unstressed but clear)
• кулисами – ku-ЛИ-са-ми

Rough phonetic guide (Latin letters):

• артисты – [ar-TEE-sty]
• стоят – [sta-YAT]
• за – [za]
• кулисами – [koo-LEE-sa-mee]

Common mistake: English speakers often say стОят instead of стоЯт. The correct stress is on -я-.

What’s the difference between стоять and something like находиться or быть to talk about location?

All can relate to location, but they are used differently:

• стоять – to stand (upright position).
  Used for people and objects that are standing:

  • Артисты стоят за кулисами. – The performers are standing backstage.
  • Стул стоит у окна. – The chair is (standing) by the window.

• лежать – to lie; сидеть – to sit.
  Russian is very specific about position.

• находиться – to be located / to be situated (neutral, more formal/impersonal):

  • Театр находится в центре города. – The theatre is located in the city center.

• быть (omitted in the present) – generic “to be.”

  • Артисты за кулисами. – The performers are backstage. (no position implied)
  • Артисты были за кулисами. – The performers were backstage.

So стоять adds the idea of standing as a physical posture, not just being somewhere.

What grammatical form is стоят (person, number, tense, aspect)?

стоят is:

• verb: стоять (to stand)
• tense: present
• person: 3rd person
• number: plural
• aspect: imperfective

So it corresponds to English “they stand / they are standing.”

The perfective partner of стоять is постоять (to stand for a while, for some time), e.g.:

• Артисты постояли за кулисами и вышли на сцену.
  The performers stood backstage for a while and went out onto the stage.