El hombre vive en las afueras.

Vive comes from the verb vivir, meaning to live. Here it is the third-person singular present form, so it means he lives or the man lives.

• yo vivo = I live
• tú vives = you live
• él / ella vive = he / she lives

Because the subject is el hombre, the verb has to be vive.

Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is. Since vive clearly matches he/she/it, and the sentence already includes el hombre, adding él would be unnecessary.

So:

• El hombre vive en las afueras. = natural
• Él vive en las afueras. = also possible, but only if you want to stress he

En las afueras means on the outskirts or in the outskirts, usually of a town or city. It refers to the outer area, not the center.

So the sentence means the man lives in an area outside the city center.

In Spanish, afueras is normally used in the plural when it means outskirts. This is just how the expression works.

So you usually say:

• en las afueras de Madrid = on the outskirts of Madrid

Using a singular form here would not sound natural in this meaning.

The usual expression is vivir en las afueras. The preposition en is used because someone lives in an area.

Examples:

• Vive en Madrid. = He lives in Madrid.
• Vive en el centro. = He lives in the center.
• Vive en las afueras. = He lives on/in the outskirts.

Both are possible.

• El hombre vive en las afueras. = The man lives on the outskirts.
  
  • This is fine if the city is already understood from context.
• El hombre vive en las afueras de Sevilla. = The man lives on the outskirts of Seville.
  
  • This is more specific.

So de + place is often added when you want to say the outskirts of somewhere.

Not in this sentence if you mean on the outskirts.

• afuera usually means outside
• en las afueras means on the outskirts

So these are different ideas:

• Está afuera. = He is outside.
• Vive en las afueras. = He lives on the outskirts.

Hombre is pronounced roughly like OHM-breh.

A few useful points:

• The h is silent in Spanish.
• The o is a clear short vowel, not a diphthong like in many English accents.
• The bre sounds like breh.

So do not pronounce the h.

In Spain, vive is pronounced roughly BEE-beh.

Important details:

• Spanish v and b are pronounced very similarly.
• Each vowel is clear and short:
  • vi = bee
  • ve = beh

So it should not sound like English vive with an English-style vowel.

Yes. The Spanish present tense often covers both the simple present and, depending on context, something close to the English present continuous.

So vive can mean:

• he lives
• sometimes he is living

In this sentence, the most natural translation is The man lives on the outskirts.

The word order is very normal:

El hombre + vive + en las afueras
subject + verb + place expression

Spanish can sometimes change word order for emphasis, but this sentence uses the standard, neutral order.

No, not exactly.

• El hombre vive en las afueras. = The man lives on the outskirts.
• El hombre está en las afueras. = The man is on the outskirts.

Vive describes where he resides.
Está describes where he is located at that moment or in a temporary sense.

In many contexts, yes. Vivir a las afueras is also common and natural, and it usually means the same thing as vivir en las afueras.

Both can be heard:

• vive en las afueras
• vive a las afueras

For a learner, en las afueras is a very safe and clear option.