Learn Hardcore German: Ich habe viele Hobbys, aber mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik machen. - I have many hobbies, but my favourite hobby is making music.

So Hobbys is the standard German plural and is what you’ll find in dictionaries like Duden. Hobbies looks English and is normally marked as incorrect in German writing.

What is the difference between viel and viele, and why is it viele Hobbys?

German distinguishes between viel and viele:

viel = much, a lot of (used with uncountable or singular nouns, or as an adverb)
- viel Wasser – much water
- viel Zeit – a lot of time
- Er spielt viel. – He plays a lot.
viele = many (used with countable plural nouns)
- viele Bücher – many books
- viele Freunde – many friends
- viele Hobbys – many hobbies

Because Hobbys is a countable plural noun, German uses viele, not viel.

Why is it mein liebstes Hobby and not meine liebstes Hobby?

The form of mein/meine depends on gender, number, and case of the noun it belongs to.

Hobby in German is neuter: das Hobby
In the sentence, Hobby is in the nominative singular (it’s the subject complement: my favourite hobby).

For a neuter, nominative, singular noun after mein, you use:

mein (not meine)
So: mein liebstes Hobby

Meine is used for:

feminine nominative/accusative singular: meine Tasche (my bag)
all plural nominative/accusative: meine Hobbys (my hobbies)

So mein liebstes Hobby is grammatically correct; meine liebstes Hobby would clash in gender and be wrong.

Why does liebstes have the ending -es in mein liebstes Hobby?

There are two things happening in liebstes:

Superlative of lieb
- lieb = dear, beloved
- am liebsten = most dearly / favorite (adverbial superlative)
- As an adjective before a noun, the superlative stem is liebst-, and then you add adjective endings.
Adjective ending for neuter nominative singular after a possessive
In mein liebstes Hobby, the pattern is:
- determiner: mein (possessive, works like ein-words)
- adjective: liebst-
- noun: Hobby (neuter, nominative singular)

With mein + neuter nominative singular, the adjective takes -es:

ein liebstes Hobby
mein liebstes Hobby
kein liebstes Hobby

So the full form liebstes = liebst- (superlative stem) + -es (adjective ending for neuter nominative singular).

What is the difference between mein liebstes Hobby and mein Lieblingshobby?

Both basically mean my favorite hobby, but they’re built differently:

mein liebstes Hobby
- Uses the adjective lieb in the superlative: lieb → liebste-.
- Literally: my dearest hobby.
- Slightly more descriptive / “adjectival” style.
mein Lieblingshobby
- Uses the very common prefix Lieblings- (favorite‑), which forms compounds:
  - Lieblingsfilm – favorite movie
  - Lieblingsessen – favorite food
  - Lieblingslied – favorite song
- Lieblingshobby is a single compound noun.

In everyday speech, mein Lieblingshobby is very common and maybe a bit more neutral. mein liebstes Hobby is also completely correct and idiomatic; it can sound a touch more expressive or literary, but it’s not strange.

Why is it Musik machen and not something like Musik spielen?

German has several different expressions around music:

Musik machen
- Very general: to make / perform / play music.
- Can include singing, playing an instrument, being in a band, composing, etc.
- Good as a broad description of a hobby.
Musik spielen
- Used, but more often in specific contexts like:
  - Die Band spielt Musik.
  - Im Radio wird Musik gespielt.
- Sounds a bit more like “music is (being) played”, rather than “my hobby is making music”.
(ein Instrument) spielen
- The normal phrase for playing an instrument:
  - Klavier spielen, Gitarre spielen, Geige spielen.

In a sentence about hobbies, Musik machen is the most natural, wide‑covering phrase: it tells you that the person actively makes music in some way, not just listens.

Could we just say …aber mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik without machen?

Yes, you can say …aber mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik, but it usually implies something slightly different:

…ist Musik machen:
- clearly an active hobby: playing an instrument, singing, composing, etc.
…ist Musik:
- is more ambiguous:
  - Many listeners would understand it as listening to music.
  - It could also be interpreted more abstractly as “music in general”.

In other words:

If you want to emphasize actively creating/performing music, Musik machen is better.
If you want to emphasize music in any form, especially listening, Musik alone can work.

Why is there no article before Musik in Musik machen?

In German, mass or abstract nouns used in a general sense often appear without an article, especially after certain verbs. Compare:

Musik hören / Musik machen / Musik lieben
Wasser trinken
Kaffee kochen
Fußball spielen (no article either)

You would use an article if you specify particular or known music:

die Musik von Mozart
die Musik, die du mir geschickt hast

In Musik machen, you’re talking about the activity in general, so no article is needed: Musik machen, not die Musik machen.

Why isn’t there a zu in ist Musik machen (why not ist Musik zu machen)?

After sein (ist) in sentences like this, German often uses a bare infinitive (without zu) as a kind of noun‑like phrase for activities:

Mein Hobby ist lesen.
Seine größte Leidenschaft ist reisen.
Mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik machen.

The structure is:
[subject] + sein + [activity phrase in the infinitive]

You normally use zu + infinitive:

after certain verbs (versuchen, anfangen, versuchen, vergessen, etc.)
in um … zu, ohne … zu, anstatt … zu clauses.

Examples:

Ich versuche, Musik zu machen.
Um besser zu werden, übe ich jeden Tag.

So:

ist Musik machen = natural predicate with a bare infinitive phrase.
ist Musik zu machen would sound unusual or wrong here.

Why is the word order Musik machen and not machen Musik?

Inside an infinitive phrase that describes an activity, the normal order in German is:

object + infinitive
Musik machen, Hausaufgaben machen, Sport treiben

So:

As an infinitive phrase: Musik machen (standard)
As a normal finite sentence: Ich mache Musik. (verb in 2nd position, object after)

You can see machen Musik in some contexts, especially with emphasis or different sentence structures, for example:

Was machen sie? – Sie machen Musik.

But for a hobby description and as a phrase after ist, Musik machen is the natural, idiomatic order.

Why is there a comma before aber, and can a sentence in German start with Aber?

Comma before aber

In German, when aber connects two main clauses, a comma is required:

Ich habe viele Hobbys, aber mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik machen.

Both parts could stand alone as full sentences:

Ich habe viele Hobbys.
Mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik machen.

German spelling rules say: main clauses joined by aber, sondern, denn, oder, und usually take a comma. (With und/oder there are some exceptions; with aber you always write the comma in this kind of sentence.)

Starting a sentence with Aber

Yes, you can start a sentence with Aber:

Aber mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik machen.

This is common in spoken German and informal writing, especially to contrast with what was said before. In formal writing, teachers might tell you not to start too many sentences with Aber, but grammatically it’s fine—as long as the verb still stays in second position:

Aber mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik machen. (correct)
Aber ist mein liebstes Hobby Musik machen. (wrong word order)

Should Musik machen be written as one word (Musikmachen) and should anything be capitalized differently?

In the given sentence, Musik machen as two words is correct:

Ich habe viele Hobbys, aber mein liebstes Hobby ist Musik machen.

Here’s why:

Verb phrase vs. nominalization
- As a regular verb phrase (activity), you write:
  - Musik machen
  - Fußball spielen
  - Hausaufgaben machen
- Only the noun (Musik, Fußball, Hausaufgaben) is capitalized.
When it becomes a noun (Nominalisierung) If you turn the activity itself into a noun, you can write:
- das Musikmachen (often as one word)
- or: das Musik-Machen (with a hyphen, especially if you want to show the parts)

Example:

Das Musikmachen entspannt mich. – Making music relaxes me.

In our sentence, after ist, you can interpret Musik machen as an activity phrase rather than a formal nominalization with article. Therefore, the usual and most natural spelling is Musik machen: two words, Musik capitalized, machen lower-case.