Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Við búum á rólegu svæði nálægt skólanum.

Breakdown of Við búum á rólegu svæði nálægt skólanum.

What does each word in Við búum á rólegu svæði nálægt skólanum mean?

Roughly, word by word:

Við – we (subject pronoun, 1st person plural)
búum – live / reside (verb, present tense, we live)
á – on / in / at (preposition; here it means in / in a area)
rólegu – quiet, calm (adjective, in a specific form to match svæði)
svæði – area, region, zone (noun)
nálægt – near, close to (preposition here)
skólanum – the school (noun skóli in the dative with a definite ending)

So the overall meaning is We live in a quiet area near the school.

Why is it búum and not something like býum or just búa?

Búum is the present tense form of the verb búa (to live, to reside) for við (we).

Present tense forms of búa are:

So with við you use . by itself is the infinitive (, not ).