how do you read the tabs? and what are they?

They are poor man's sheet music, so to speak.
Try ultimate-guitar.com to see some examples.

You can Google search any song you want, just type the name of the song and "guitar tabs" and you'll eventually come up with something adequate. Tabs are often made by amateurs and usually aren't accurate but they will give you an idea of the correct way to play a song.
Tabs are excellent if you don't know chords, because they basically explain exactly where to put your fingers.
Most websites explain how to read them, but I'll give you the gist of it.
Here's an example of the Beatles "Let it be"

E-|-----7-----7~--7-----------7-----7~--7-----------------------|
B-|-------------------------------------------------------------|
G-|--7-----7---------7--9--7-----7---------7--9-----------------|
D-|-------------------------------------------------------------|
A-|-------------------------------------------------------------|
E-|-------------------------------------------------------------|

You'll notice that each line of the tab corresponds to a string on the guitar. In this example, your first move would be to depress the G string on the 7th fret and pick that string. Next, would be the E string on the 7th fret, and so on.
If you come across a 0 on any line, it means you play the string open.
Usually the tabs denote the time signature and tuning.
I probably forgot something, but those are the basics.

The bottom part of a tab is the lowest string ( the thick one). The numbers that you see are the frets (spaces between the metal bars). The numbers are arranged depending on the order of how it's played. There are some tab terms like the "p" which means pull-offs. "/", "s" means slide, "b" means bend, pl/pm etc. means palm mute and many more. I only know a few because most of the songs I play are learned by ear.

-hope I helped

the 6 lines of the tab correspond to the 6 strings of the guitar and the number on the line corresponds to the number fret of the guitar on that string that u press down when u play a note. the frets are the space between the metal bars all the way down the neck of the guitar

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