Ist ihnen schlecht?

[jd87]

Apparently this means "Are they sick?". I don't understand why this uses "Ist" and not "Sind". I thought the form of Sein that goes with Sie/sie (You formal/they) is always sind. Can anyone explain?

[kragi]

Literally "Ist (es) ihnen schlecht?" means "Is it bad to them?" "It" is singular in german and english. "Ihnen" is dative in english and german too. "Sie" would be nominative or accusative.

[siebolt]

It is a group of idiomatic turns: mir ist kalt, mir ist schlecht, mir ist warm etc.>> ihnen ist kalt etc.