Breakdown of Der Ausflug macht ihnen viel Spaß.
machen
to make, to do
viel
much / a lot
der Ausflug
the excursion
der Spaß
the fun
Questions & Answers about Der Ausflug macht ihnen viel Spaß.
Why does the sentence use ihnen instead of sie for "them"?
ihnen is the dative form of sie (they). In German, if you want to say something is fun for someone, that person is the receiver of the action and takes the dative case. Literally, this sentence says "The trip makes to them much fun."
Could ihnen also mean the formal "you" here?
Not in this sentence, because it is written with a lowercase i. The formal "to you" would be the dative pronoun Ihnen, which must always be capitalized no matter where it appears in the sentence.
The translation says "is a lot of fun", but doesn't macht mean "makes"?
Yes, but German uses the verb machen (to make or do) to talk about things being fun. The fixed expression is Spaß machen. You don't use the verb sein (to be) for this; you say that an activity "makes fun".
Why does ihnen come before viel Spaß in the sentence?
In German, pronoun objects like the dative ihnen usually come before noun objects like viel Spaß. So the "for whom" (them) comes right after the verb, before the "what" (a lot of fun).