Learn Hardcore German: Zu Hause wählen wir gemeinsam, welches Spiel wir spielen, damit niemand wütend wird. - At home we choose together which game we play so that nobody gets angry.

German has the verb‑second rule in main clauses: the finite verb (here: wählen) must be in second position, no matter what comes first.

In your sentence:

Zu Hause = position 1 (a place/time element moved to the front)
wählen = position 2 (finite verb)
wir = position 3 (subject)
gemeinsam, welches Spiel wir spielen, damit niemand wütend wird. = the rest

You could also say:

Wir wählen zu Hause gemeinsam, welches Spiel wir spielen, damit niemand wütend wird.

Here wir is first, so wählen is still in second position.

So the rule is: in a main clause, the verb is always second, but what comes first is flexible. You can front elements like Zu Hause, Heute, Dann, etc., to change emphasis or style.

Why is it zu Hause and not nach Hause?

zu Hause and nach Hause express different things:

zu Hause = at home (location, where you are)
- Zu Hause wählen wir gemeinsam…
  = At home, we choose together…
nach Hause = (to) home (direction, where you’re going)
- Wir gehen nach Hause.
  = We are going home.

So here, the sentence describes what happens when we are at home, not that we are going home, so zu Hause is correct.

Why is Hause capitalized in zu Hause?

Historically, Hause comes from the noun das Haus, so it keeps the capitalization.

das Haus → zu Hause (literally: at house)

In modern German, you mostly see:

zu Hause (two words, very common and always correct)
zuhause (one word; accepted especially in informal writing)

But Hause stays capital because it is (historically) a noun.
If you want to be safe and formal, use zu Hause.

What is the difference between gemeinsam and zusammen? Could I say zusammen here?

Both often translate as together, but there are nuances:

zusammen = physically together, side by side; more neutral
gemeinsam = together in the sense of shared action, common goal, jointly

In your sentence:

Zu Hause wählen wir gemeinsam, welches Spiel wir spielen…

gemeinsam fits very well because the focus is on joint decision‑making.

You could say:

Zu Hause wählen wir zusammen, welches Spiel wir spielen…

This is not wrong, and many native speakers would say it.
But gemeinsam subtly stresses that it’s a shared choice, not just that people are in the same place.

What kind of clause is welches Spiel wir spielen, and why is the word order wir spielen and not spielen wir?

welches Spiel wir spielen is an object clause (a subordinate clause) that answers what we choose.

Structure of the whole part:

wählen wir gemeinsam, welches Spiel wir spielen, …
- wählen = main clause verb
- welches Spiel wir spielen = what we choose → object clause

In subordinate clauses, the finite verb goes to the end:

main clause question:
Welches Spiel spielen wir? (verb in second position: spielen)
subordinate clause:
…, welches Spiel wir spielen. (verb at the end: spielen)

German speakers recognize this as an indirect question or embedded question.
So the word order wir spielen would be a real question; wir spielen at the end marks it as part of a larger sentence.

Why is it welches Spiel and not welcher Spiel or welchem Spiel?

You need to match gender, number, and case:

Spiel → das Spiel (neuter, singular)
The clause welches Spiel wir spielen is the direct object of wählen.
Direct objects are accusative.

Neuter accusative of welch‑ is:

welches

So:

welches Spiel = which game (neuter, accusative singular)

Other forms (for comparison):

masculine accusative: welchen Film
feminine accusative: welche Musik
plural accusative: welche Spiele

Why is there a comma before welches Spiel wir spielen?

In German, subordinate clauses must be separated by commas.

welches Spiel wir spielen is a subordinate clause (object clause / indirect question).
It depends on the verb wählen and starts with a question word (welches).

Rule:
Any Nebensatz (subordinate clause) is set off with a comma from the main clause:

Zu Hause wählen wir gemeinsam, welches Spiel wir spielen, damit niemand wütend wird.

So the first comma marks the start of the subordinate clause, the second comma separates it from the next subordinate clause (damit niemand wütend wird).

What does damit mean here, and how is it different from so dass or um … zu?

damit introduces a purpose clause: it expresses why you do something, what goal you have.

…, damit niemand wütend wird.
= so that nobody gets angry / in order that nobody gets angry.

Differences:

damit
- used when the subject of the purpose clause can be different from the subject of the main clause.
- Wir wählen gemeinsam, damit niemand wütend wird.
um … zu (+ infinitive)
- used only when the subject is the same in both clauses.
- Wir wählen gemeinsam, um Streit zu vermeiden.
  (We choose together in order to avoid conflict. Same subject: we.)
so dass / sodass
- often expresses result/consequence, not intended purpose.
- Wir wählen nicht gemeinsam, sodass jemand oft wütend wird.
  = We don’t choose together, so (as a result) someone often gets angry.

In your sentence, damit is correct because it expresses an intended purpose: you choose together with the aim that no one becomes angry.

Why is the verb at the end in damit niemand wütend wird?

Because damit introduces a subordinate clause, and in subordinate clauses, the finite verb goes to the last position.

main clause pattern: Subj – Verb – …
Niemand wird wütend. (Nobody gets angry.)
subordinate clause with damit:
…, damit niemand wütend wird.

So the structure is:

damit (subordinating conjunction)
niemand (subject)
wütend (predicate adjective)
wird (finite verb at the end)

This is the standard word order for subordinate clauses in German.

Why do we use wird wütend and not something like ist wütend?

wird wütend (literally becomes angry) emphasizes a change of state: somebody goes from not angry to angry.

The purpose here is to avoid someone getting angry as a result of the choice. That’s why the sentence uses wird wütend.

If you said:

…, damit niemand wütend ist.

This would focus more on nobody being angry (in general / at that time), not on preventing them from getting angry because of the game choice.
So wird wütend matches the idea of preventing anger from arising.

Why is it niemand wird and not niemand werden? Niemand refers to several people, doesn’t it?

Grammatically, niemand (nobody) is singular in German, even if it refers to a group of people in meaning.

Therefore, the verb must be in the 3rd person singular:

niemand wird wütend = nobody gets angry
compare:
- jemand wird wütend (somebody gets angry)
- alle werden wütend (everyone gets angry → plural verb)

So you always say:

Niemand hat Zeit. (not: Niemand haben Zeit.)
Niemand war zu Hause. (not: Niemand waren zu Hause.)

Could I say damit keiner wütend wird instead of damit niemand wütend wird? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say damit keiner wütend wird; it is perfectly acceptable.

Nuance:

niemand = neutral, a bit more standard/formal
keiner = a bit more colloquial; feels slightly more spoken

In everyday speech, keiner is very common:

Wir wählen gemeinsam, damit keiner wütend wird.

In written or more formal German, niemand is slightly more typical.

What is the difference between wütend, sauer, and verärgert?

All three can be translated as angry, but with different flavor:

wütend
- strong anger, sometimes close to furious
- emotional, intense
- Er ist richtig wütend. = He is really angry / furious.
sauer
- very common in spoken German, often a bit less strong, more like mad / annoyed
- Sie ist sauer, weil sie verloren hat. = She’s mad because she lost.
verärgert
- more neutral or formal, often like annoyed / displeased
- Der Kunde ist verärgert. = The customer is annoyed / displeased.

In your sentence (about games at home), wütend is vivid and colloquial‑sounding: nobody gets really mad. You could also say sauer, which would sound even more colloquial and slightly less strong.