Breakdown of Spielt dein Bruder gern?
spielen
to play
gern
gladly, like to
dein
your (informal)
der Bruder
the brother
Questions & Answers about Spielt dein Bruder gern?
Why is it dein Bruder and not deine Bruder?
Bruder (brother) is a masculine noun. Because it is the subject of the sentence (the one doing the playing), it is in the nominative case. For masculine nouns in the nominative case, the word for "your" is dein without any extra ending. If you were talking about a feminine noun like Schwester (sister), you would add an -e and use deine.
How does gern mean "like to"?
The word gern actually means something like "gladly" or "with pleasure". While English uses the verb "likes to" followed by an action, German simply takes the action verb (spielt) and adds the word gern next to it. So, spielt... gern translates literally to "plays gladly", which is how Germans say someone likes playing.
Why is there no German word for "does" in this sentence?
German does not use helper words like "do" or "does" to ask questions. Instead, you just put the main verb (spielt) at the very beginning of the sentence. Just by moving the verb to the front, the statement Dein Bruder spielt (Your brother plays) turns into the question Spielt dein Bruder? (Does your brother play?).
Why does the verb spielen change to spielt here?