Questions & Answers about Где живут эти люди?
Why does the sentence use эти instead of это?
эти is the plural form of the demonstrative pronoun 'this' (этот). Because люди (people) is a plural noun, we must use the plural form 'these', which is эти. You would use это if you were pointing to a singular neuter noun, or if you were saying 'This is...' (Это...).
Why is the word for 'people' люди? Is it related to человек (person)?
люди is the plural of человек. It is completely irregular—instead of just changing the ending, Russian uses a whole different root word for the plural form. It is very similar to how English completely changes the word 'person' to 'people'.
Where does the в in живут come from if the dictionary form is жить?
The verb жить (to live) is slightly irregular. When you conjugate it in the present tense, a в is added to the root, making the stem жив-. Because 'these people' is a 'they' subject (3rd person plural), we add the 'they' ending -ут to get живут.
Is it okay to change the word order and ask Где эти люди живут? instead?
Yes, absolutely! Russian word order is very flexible, and your version is perfectly understood. However, in Russian questions, it is very common and natural to put the verb (живут) right after the question word and before the subject (эти люди).
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