Breakdown of Zu Weihnachten backt meine Oma Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
Questions & Answers about Zu Weihnachten backt meine Oma Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
Literally, "Zu Weihnachten" means "at Christmas" or "for Christmas".
- The preposition zu often means “to” or “at”, but with holidays like Weihnachten and Ostern, "zu" commonly means “at (the time of)”.
- So "Zu Weihnachten" = at Christmastime / when it’s Christmas.
You can also say "An Weihnachten", which is very common too.
- "Zu Weihnachten" and "An Weihnachten" are both correct; zu can sound a bit more like “for Christmas / around Christmas (time)”, while an is more like “on (the day of) Christmas”, but in everyday speech they often overlap.
German main clauses follow the V2 rule: the conjugated verb must be in second position, but it doesn’t have to be the second word. It’s the second element.
In this sentence:
- Zu Weihnachten = first element (a prepositional phrase about time)
- backt = second element (the verb)
- meine Oma Plätzchen für die ganze Familie = the rest of the sentence
So the sentence is:
- Zu Weihnachten (1) backt (2) meine Oma Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
You could also say:
- Meine Oma backt zu Weihnachten Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
Here, Meine Oma is the first element, backt is still second, and zu Weihnachten is simply moved later in the sentence. Both word orders are correct.
"backt" is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb backen (to bake):
- ich backe
- du backst
- er/sie/es backt
- wir backen
- ihr backt
- sie backen
Traditionally, backen was irregular and people also used bäckt for “he/she/it bakes” (er bäckt). Nowadays:
- Both er backt and er bäckt are accepted in modern German.
- In simple learner contexts, backt is often preferred because it’s more regular and easier to remember.
You never use the infinitive backen in this position; you need the conjugated form (backt) for "meine Oma".
"meine Oma" is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence – the person who is doing the baking.
A quick way to check:
- Ask “Who is baking?” → meine Oma.
The “who/what is doing the action?” part is the nominative.
Also notice:
- Oma is feminine.
- The nominative feminine singular with the possessive mein- takes the ending -e → meine Oma.
So: meine Oma = “my grandma” in nominative case.
In German, all nouns are capitalized, and Oma is a noun meaning “grandma”.
So:
- die Oma = the grandma
- meine Oma = my grandma
Even if you use it almost like a name (e.g. “Oma kommt.” – “Grandma is coming.”), it is still a noun, so it is written with a capital O.
The same rule explains Weihnachten, Plätzchen, and Familie being capitalized: they are all nouns.
Plätzchen are small cookies/biscuits, often Christmas cookies.
- The word Plätzchen is a diminutive formed with -chen, which often means “little _”.
- It comes from Platz (in some dialects “cookie, biscuit”) → Plätzchen = “little cookies”.
Grammatically:
- Plätzchen is neuter: das Plätzchen (singular), die Plätzchen (plural).
- The plural of a -chen diminutive is usually identical to the singular in form:
- Singular: das Plätzchen
- Plural: die Plätzchen
In the sentence, the verb is backt (bakes), and it makes most sense as plural (“She bakes cookies”), but the form itself looks the same as the singular. Context tells you it’s plural.
The preposition für in German always takes the accusative case.
So:
- Familie is a feminine noun: die Familie.
- In the accusative feminine singular, the definite article is also die.
That’s why you get:
- für + die (Akkusativ fem. sg.) + (ganze) Familie
- → für die ganze Familie = “for the whole family”.
You cannot use dative or nominative after für; it always forces accusative.
In German, adjectives before a noun get endings that depend on the case, gender, and article.
Here we have:
- für → accusative
- die Familie → feminine singular with definite article
- adjective ganz in front of Familie
In this pattern (feminine singular accusative with die), the adjective gets the ending -e:
- die ganze Familie
So “ganze” is just “ganz” + correct adjective ending.
Without the ending (ganz Familie) it would be grammatically wrong in standard German.
You can say both:
- für die ganze Familie
- für die gesamte Familie
Both mean essentially “for the whole family”.
Nuances:
- ganze is very common and neutral in everyday speech.
- gesamte can sound a little more formal or emphatic, like “the entire family as a whole”, but in this context the difference is small.
So your original "für die ganze Familie" is perfectly standard and natural.
Yes, German word order is quite flexible for these “extra information” parts (time, place, purpose, etc.), as long as the verb stays in second position. Here are a few correct alternatives:
- Zu Weihnachten backt meine Oma für die ganze Familie Plätzchen.
- Zu Weihnachten backt meine Oma Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
- Meine Oma backt zu Weihnachten Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
- Meine Oma backt Plätzchen für die ganze Familie zu Weihnachten. (sounds slightly less natural, but still possible)
All of these say the same thing. The most natural versions put time relatively early:
- Zu Weihnachten backt meine Oma Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
- Meine Oma backt zu Weihnachten Plätzchen für die ganze Familie.
To say “At Christmas, my grandma baked cookies for the whole family.” you usually use the Perfekt (conversational past):
- Zu Weihnachten hat meine Oma Plätzchen für die ganze Familie gebacken.
Changes:
- The auxiliary hat (3rd person singular of haben) is now the finite verb in second position.
- The main verb backen goes to the past participle form gebacken, which moves to the end of the clause.
So the present tense backt becomes hat … gebacken in the past.