Mijn vader eet graag brood met boter en kaas als ontbijt.

In Dutch, a possessive word like mijn (my) normally replaces the article.

So you say:

• mijn vader = my father
• not de mijn vader

This is the same idea as in English: we say my father, not the my father.

Eten is the infinitive, meaning to eat.

In this sentence, the subject is mijn vader, which is he / third person singular, so the present tense form is:

• ik eet = I eat
• jij eet / eet jij = you eat
• hij eet = he eats

So:

• Mijn vader eet = My father eats

Graag is a very common Dutch word used to express that someone likes doing something.

So:

• Mijn vader eet graag brood literally means something like My father eats bread gladly
• but in natural English it means My father likes eating bread

This is an important pattern in Dutch:

• Ik drink graag koffie. = I like drinking coffee.
• Zij leest graag. = She likes reading.

So graag often translates as like to rather than just gladly.

In a normal Dutch main clause, the conjugated verb usually comes in the second position, and words like graag often come after it.

So the structure here is:

• Mijn vader = subject
• eet = conjugated verb
• graag = adverb
• brood met boter en kaas = object / rest of the sentence
• als ontbijt = extra phrase

This placement is very typical:

• Ik lees graag boeken.
• Hij speelt graag voetbal.

Here brood means bread in a general, uncountable sense, like English bread.

So:

• brood = bread in general
• een brood = a loaf of bread

In the sentence, the meaning is about what he eats, not that he eats one whole loaf. That is why Dutch uses brood without an article.

Compare:

• Ik eet brood. = I eat bread.
• Ik koop een brood. = I buy a loaf of bread.

Dutch often leaves out articles when talking about food in a general way, especially ingredients or toppings.

So:

• met boter en kaas = with butter and cheese

This is similar to English, where we also often say with butter and cheese, not necessarily with the butter and the cheese.

If you were talking about specific butter or specific cheese, articles could appear in another context, but here the meaning is general.

Als ontbijt literally means as breakfast, but in natural English it is usually translated as for breakfast.

So:

• Mijn vader eet graag brood met boter en kaas als ontbijt.
• = My father likes eating bread with butter and cheese for breakfast.

Dutch often uses als in this kind of expression to show the role or function of something:

• als kind = as a child
• als docent = as a teacher
• als ontbijt = for breakfast / as breakfast

Because als ontbijt is a fixed, idiomatic expression meaning something like for breakfast or as breakfast in a general sense.

Dutch often omits the article after als when talking about someone's role, function, or use:

• Hij werkt als leraar. = He works as a teacher.
• We eten dit als lunch. = We eat this for lunch.
• Zij drinkt thee als ontbijt. = She drinks tea for breakfast.

Using an article would usually change the meaning and sound less natural here.

The sentence follows the normal Dutch main-clause pattern:

• Mijn vader = subject
• eet = finite verb
• graag = adverb
• brood met boter en kaas = object / complement
• als ontbijt = time/use expression

A simple way to think about Dutch main clauses is:

subject + finite verb + rest

That is why the verb eet comes early in the sentence.

Yes. Dutch allows another element to come first, but then the finite verb still stays in second position.

So you can say:

• Als ontbijt eet mijn vader graag brood met boter en kaas.

That still means the same thing, but now Als ontbijt is emphasized.

Notice what happens:

• first element: Als ontbijt
• second position: eet
• then the subject: mijn vader

This is a key Dutch rule called verb-second word order.

Yes, you can think of it as one noun phrase with an added met phrase.

• brood = bread
• met boter en kaas = with butter and cheese

So together:

• brood met boter en kaas = bread with butter and cheese

The preposition met works very much like English with.

Not much in this sentence.

• vader is a common noun meaning father
• Dutch does have grammatical gender, but in a sentence like this it does not cause any special change
• There are no case endings to learn here like in German

The important part is just the possessive:

• mijn vader = my father

Yes, but it means something slightly different in tone.

• Mijn vader eet graag ... = My father likes eating ...
• Mijn vader houdt van ... = My father likes / loves ...

With food, graag plus the verb is very common and natural when talking about what someone likes to eat or drink.

So eet graag is especially suitable here because the sentence is about the action of eating.