Learn Hardcore German: Am Wochenende spielen wir ein großes Brettspiel, bei dem jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut. - At the weekend we play a big board game in which each female player builds her own city.

an + dative is used for many time expressions:
- am Montag – on Monday
- am Abend – in the evening
- am Wochenende – at / on the weekend

You can’t say im Wochenende for “on/at the weekend”; im (= in dem) is not idiomatic here.

You also can’t normally drop the preposition and article in German. Just Wochenende spielen wir … is wrong; you need Am Wochenende.

Why does the verb come after “Am Wochenende”: “Am Wochenende spielen wir …” and not “Am Wochenende wir spielen …”?

German is a V2 language in main clauses: the finite verb must be in the second position.

The first position can be almost anything (subject, object, time phrase, etc.).
The conjugated verb must come next (2nd position).
Everything else follows.

In your sentence:

1st position: Am Wochenende (time expression)
2nd position: spielen (conjugated verb)
Then: wir ein großes Brettspiel …

So “Am Wochenende spielen wir …” is correct.

“Am Wochenende wir spielen …” breaks the V2 rule and sounds wrong in standard German.

Why is it “ein großes Brettspiel” and not “ein großer Brettspiel” or “eine großes Brettspiel”?

The form comes from gender + case + article rules:

Brettspiel is neuter (das Brettspiel).
In the sentence, ein großes Brettspiel is the direct object of “spielen” → accusative case.
For neuter accusative with ein, the adjective ending is -es.

Adjective endings with ein + neuter:

ein großes Brettspiel – a big board game (accusative or nominative)
mit einem großen Brettspiel – with a big board game (dative)

So:

ein großer Brettspiel – wrong (ending -er is masculine nominative, and Brettspiel isn’t masculine).
eine großes Brettspiel – wrong (article eine is feminine, Brettspiel is neuter).

What exactly does “Brettspiel” mean, and how is this compound built?

Brettspiel is a compound noun:

das Brett – board (a flat piece, like a plank or game board)
das Spiel – game

Put together: das Brettspiel = board game.

German often combines nouns into one long word, and the gender of the whole compound is the gender of the last part:

das Spiel → das Brettspiel (neuter)
der Tisch → der Holztisch (wooden table)

Why is there a comma before “bei dem”, and why does “baut” go to the end: “… bei dem jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut.”?

The comma introduces a relative clause that gives extra information about “ein großes Brettspiel”.

Main clause: Am Wochenende spielen wir ein großes Brettspiel,
Relative clause: bei dem jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut.

In subordinate clauses (including relative clauses), German sends the finite verb to the end:

… bei dem (relative pronoun with preposition)
jede Spielerin (subject)
eine eigene Stadt (object)
baut (finite verb at the end)

So the comma is required, and the verb-final position is standard for this kind of clause.

What does “bei dem” mean here, and why is it dem and not den or das?

“bei dem” literally means “at which / during which” and refers back to “ein großes Brettspiel”.

Reason for each part:

dem:
- It must match Brettspiel, which is neuter singular:
  - nominative: das Brettspiel
  - dative: dem Brettspiel
- bei always takes the dative: bei + dem Brettspiel → bei dem.
Why not den?
- den would be masculine accusative or plural dative, but Brettspiel is neuter singular.
Why not just das?
- With bei, you must use the dative form (dem), not the nominative (das).

In English we’d translate it more naturally as “… a big board game, during which each player builds her own city.”

Why use “bei dem” instead of “wo” or “in dem”?

Several options are possible but have slightly different flavors:

bei dem – emphasizes “in the course of / during that game”; very natural with activities/events.
in dem – “in which”; sounds a bit more spatial or neutral.
wo – colloquial in many regions for “where/wherein,” but less formal/standard in written German when referring to non-places.

For a game as an event you participate in, bei dem is a very idiomatic choice:
Ein Brettspiel, bei dem … – “a board game, during which …”

Why is it “jede Spielerin” and not “jede Spieler” or just “jeder Spieler”?

Two points:

Gender & noun form:
- der Spieler – male player
- die Spielerin – female player
- die Spielerinnen – female players (plural)
“jede” must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:
- Here we refer specifically to female players, so we use Spielerin (feminine) in the singular, nominative case.
- Feminine nominative singular of jede is jede.

So:

jede Spielerin – each player (female)
jeder Spieler – each player (male)
jeder Spieler / jede Spielerin or jede*r Spieler*in – inclusive forms you might see elsewhere.

The sentence is clearly phrased in feminine-inclusive language, focusing on female players.

Why is “jede Spielerin” grammatically singular even though in English we think of “each player” as talking about multiple people?

In both English and German, “each” / “jede” takes a singular noun and verb, even though it refers to all members of a group one by one.

English: Each player builds her own city.
German: Jede Spielerin baut eine eigene Stadt.

Both grammars treat “each player / jede Spielerin” as singular:

English: each player builds (not “build”)
German: jede Spielerin baut (not “bauen”).

So the singular agreement is parallel in the two languages.

Why is it “eine eigene Stadt” and not simply “eine Stadt” or “ihre eigene Stadt”?

eigene adds the meaning “own”:

eine Stadt – a city
eine eigene Stadt – her own city

We don’t need a possessive pronoun (ihre) here because “jede Spielerin” is the subject, and it’s clear that the cities belong to the players:

Jede Spielerin baut eine eigene Stadt.
→ “Each player builds her own city.”

eigene already carries the possessive idea (“own”), so ihre eigene Stadt would be more explicit or emphatic (“her very own city”), but is not necessary.

Also, eine eigene Stadt shows:

eine → feminine nominative singular article (for Stadt)
eigene → adjective with the -e ending after eine in that case.

How do we know “eine eigene Stadt” is the object and “jede Spielerin” is the subject in the relative clause?

In “… bei dem jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut”:

jede Spielerin is nominative (subject):
- feminine singular; ending -e in jede tells you it’s nominative or accusative feminine. But:
- only a subject can be nominative, and the verb baut agrees with it (3rd person singular).
eine eigene Stadt is accusative (direct object):
- Stadt is feminine; eine looks the same in nominative and accusative feminine.
- Context and typical verb pattern help: bauen (“to build”) usually takes a direct object.

So:

Wer baut? – Who builds? → jede Spielerin (subject)
Was baut sie? – What does she build? → eine eigene Stadt (object).

Why is “baut” at the very end of “bei dem jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut”?

This is the standard rule for subordinate clauses in German (including relative clauses):

The finite verb goes to the end of the clause.

So:

Main clause: Wir spielen ein großes Brettspiel. → verb in 2nd position
Relative clause: … bei dem jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut. → baut goes to the end.

General pattern:

…, weil jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut.
…, dass jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut.
…, bei dem jede Spielerin eine eigene Stadt baut.

All of them send the conjugated verb to the end.

Can the word order in the relative clause be changed, e.g. “bei dem eine eigene Stadt jede Spielerin baut”?

No, that kind of reordering is ungrammatical or at least extremely unnatural.

The normal, neutral word order is:

Subordinate conjunction/relative pronoun → subject → objects/complements → verb at the end.

So:

bei dem (relative + preposition)
jede Spielerin (subject)
eine eigene Stadt (object)
baut (verb at the end)

Putting “eine eigene Stadt” before “jede Spielerin” would confuse the roles and sound unidiomatic. Unlike English, German doesn’t freely scramble elements like that without strong reasons and clear marking.