Tom bakt een ei in de pan voor het ontbijt.

Bakken is the infinitive, meaning to bake / to fry / to cook in a pan or oven, depending on context.

In this sentence, the subject is Tom, which is he / third person singular, so the verb is conjugated:

• ik bak = I bake/fry
• jij bakt / bak je = you bake/fry
• hij bakt = he bakes/fries
• wij bakken = we bake/fry

So:

• Tom bakt een ei = Tom fries/cooks an egg

Yes, bakken often means to bake, but in Dutch it has a wider meaning than English bake.

It can be used for:

• things cooked in an oven
• things fried or cooked in fat
• things cooked in a pan, depending on the food

With een ei in de pan, Dutch uses bakken, while natural English usually says:

• Tom fries an egg in the pan or
• Tom cooks an egg in the pan

So this is a good example where you should not translate word-for-word too rigidly.

Een without an accent is the indefinite article, meaning a/an.

• een ei = an egg

Één with an accent is the number one, used when you want to stress the quantity:

• Ik wil één ei, niet twee. = I want one egg, not two.

In your sentence, the meaning is just an egg, not specifically one egg, so een ei is correct.

Dutch nouns take either de or het as their definite article.

• de pan = the pan

You simply have to learn which nouns are de-words and which are het-words. Unfortunately, this is not always predictable.

Here:

• pan is a de-word
• so it is de pan

In de pan literally means in the pan.

Dutch uses in here just as English does:

• een ei in de pan
• an egg in the pan

It refers to the place where the cooking happens. In natural English, we might also say in a frying pan or simply in the pan, depending on context.

Voor het ontbijt means for breakfast or for the breakfast meal.

• voor = for
• het ontbijt = the breakfast

In this sentence, it tells you the purpose or occasion:

• Tom is cooking the egg for breakfast

In English, we often leave out the and just say for breakfast, but Dutch commonly uses het ontbijt.

Because ontbijt is a het-word.

So:

• het ontbijt = the breakfast

You should learn it as a vocabulary item:

• ontbijt → het ontbijt

The sentence follows a very common Dutch main-clause pattern:

Subject + finite verb + object + other information

So:

• Tom = subject
• bakt = finite verb
• een ei = object
• in de pan = place/manner detail
• voor het ontbijt = purpose/time-related detail

Dutch main clauses normally put the conjugated verb in second position. That is happening here:

• Tom | bakt | een ei in de pan voor het ontbijt

This is called the V2 rule.

Yes, Dutch often allows some movement of sentence parts, especially adverbials like place, time, or purpose.

For example, you could also say:

• Tom bakt voor het ontbijt een ei in de pan.
• Voor het ontbijt bakt Tom een ei in de pan.

These are all possible, but they may sound slightly different in emphasis.

The original sentence is very neutral and straightforward:

• Tom bakt een ei in de pan voor het ontbijt.

Ei is pronounced roughly like the English word eye.

So:

• ei sounds approximately like eye

This is a very common Dutch sound and spelling combination.

Not always. Like many prepositions, voor has several meanings depending on context.

It can mean:

• for
• before
• sometimes other related ideas depending on the sentence

In this sentence:

• voor het ontbijt = for breakfast

But in another sentence:

• voor acht uur = before eight o’clock

So you always need to interpret voor in context.

Because Tom is a proper name. In both Dutch and English, proper names usually do not take an article.

So:

• Tom bakt een ei. not
• De Tom bakt een ei.

In normal standard Dutch, names are used without de or het.