Learn Hardcore German: Wir machen heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer. - Tonight we make music together in the living room.

Musik machen = to create music in general (playing instruments, singing, jamming).
Musik spielen is possible, but it usually sounds more specific, for example:
- ein Musikstück spielen – to play a piece of music
- Klavier spielen – to play the piano

So Wir machen heute Abend zusammen Musik is very natural and idiomatic, roughly like “We’re going to make music together this evening / We’ll be jamming tonight.”

Why is Musik used without any article (no die Musik or eine Musik)?

Musik here is a mass noun (uncountable), similar to English music (not “a music”). In German, mass nouns are often used without an article when you talk about them in general:

Wir hören Musik. – We’re listening to music.
Er trinkt Kaffee. – He’s drinking coffee.
Sie macht Sport. – She does sports.

If you say die Musik, you refer to some specific music (e.g. the music that is currently playing), not to the activity of making/playing music in general.

So in this sentence, Musik is an activity (“make music”), so no article is used.

Why is it im Wohnzimmer and not in dem Wohnzimmer?

Im is simply the contracted form of in dem:

in + dem = im

German very often contracts preposition + article:

in dem Haus → im Haus
an dem Tisch → am Tisch
zu dem Arzt → zum Arzt

Both im Wohnzimmer and in dem Wohnzimmer are grammatically correct, but im Wohnzimmer sounds more natural and is what people normally say in everyday speech.

Why is Wohnzimmer capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of where they appear in the sentence.

Wohnzimmer is a noun (meaning living room), formed from:

wohnen (to live, to reside)
das Zimmer (room)

Because it’s a noun, it must start with a capital letter: Wohnzimmer, not wohnzimmer.

Why is the preposition in followed by the dative (dem/im Wohnzimmer) and not the accusative?

The preposition in can take dative or accusative, depending on meaning:

Dative = location (where?) → no movement
Accusative = direction (where to?) → movement into something

In the sentence, the meaning is “We are making music in the living room” (location), not “going into” the living room. So we use dative:

Wo? (where?) – im Wohnzimmer – dative
Compare with:
Wohin? (where to?) – ins Wohnzimmer gehen (gehen in das Wohnzimmer) – accusative

Could the word order be Wir machen zusammen heute Abend Musik im Wohnzimmer? Is that wrong?

It’s not strictly wrong, but it’s less natural.

The neutral, most common order for adverbials in German is often described as:

Time – Manner – Place

In this sentence:

heute Abend = time
zusammen = manner (how?)
im Wohnzimmer = place

So, Wir machen heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer follows this typical pattern: Time–Manner–Place.

Putting zusammen before heute Abend is possible, but it slightly changes the rhythm/emphasis and sounds more marked to native speakers. The given order is the most idiomatic.

Where does zusammen normally go in a sentence like this? Could we say Wir machen Musik heute Abend zusammen im Wohnzimmer?

Zusammen is flexible, but some positions sound more natural than others. Common and natural options include:

Wir machen heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer.
Wir machen heute Abend Musik zusammen im Wohnzimmer. (slightly more emphasis on together)

Wir machen Musik heute Abend zusammen im Wohnzimmer is understandable, but the flow is less smooth. Native speakers usually try to keep the time–manner–place sequence and also avoid splitting the core verb phrase in an odd way.

So, the original:
Wir machen heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer is very typical and natural.

Why is the verb machen in present tense, even though it’s about “this evening” (in the future)?

German often uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially when the time is clearly given:

Wir machen heute Abend Musik. – We’re making music tonight.
Ich fahre morgen nach Berlin. – I’m going to Berlin tomorrow.
Sie kommt nächste Woche. – She’s coming next week.

So Wir machen heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer naturally means “We’re going to make music together this evening in the living room,” even though grammatically it’s present tense. Context and heute Abend make the future meaning clear.

Could we say Wir werden heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer machen instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, Wir werden heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer machen is perfectly correct. That uses the Futur I tense (werden + infinitive).

Difference in nuance:

Present tense + time expression (Wir machen heute Abend ...)
- Most common, very natural for plans in the near future.
- Neutral, everyday style.
Futur I (Wir werden heute Abend ... machen)
- Can sound a bit more formal, explanatory, or emphasizing the future aspect.
- Often used in writing, in predictions, or when you really want to highlight that something is in the future.

In everyday speech, most people would just say the original sentence in present tense.

Why is the subject Wir at the very beginning and the verb machen in second position?

In a main clause in German, the conjugated verb must be in second position (the “V2 rule”). Everything else rearranges around that.

Subject first: Wir (1st position)
Finite verb: machen (2nd position)
Then the rest: heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer

You could also start with a different element (e.g. time) and the verb still has to be second:

Heute Abend machen wir zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer.

Here, Heute Abend is 1st position, machen is 2nd, and wir moves after the verb. The V2 rule is what drives this structure.

Is there a difference between heute Abend, am Abend and abends?

Yes:

heute Abend – this evening / tonight
- Refers to this specific upcoming evening.
am Abend – in the evening / on the evening (of a certain day)
- Often used with a specific day:
  - Am Freitagabend machen wir Musik. – On Friday evening, we’re making music.
abends – in the evenings / at night (regularly)
- Means something happens regularly or habitually in the evening:
  - Wir machen abends Musik. – We make music in the evenings (as a habit).

In your sentence, heute Abend is correct because you’re talking about tonight as a one-time plan.

Could we also say gemeinsam instead of zusammen? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Wir machen heute Abend gemeinsam Musik im Wohnzimmer.

Zusammen and gemeinsam are very close in meaning, both meaning together.

Nuance:

zusammen – more everyday, casual; very commonly used.
gemeinsam – can sound slightly more formal, “jointly”, sometimes with a sense of cooperation or community.

In this casual context, zusammen is slightly more colloquial and typical, but gemeinsam would also be fine and correct.

Why is it heute Abend and not Abend heute, like in English “evening today”?

In German, time expressions generally follow a more fixed internal order. For “today in the evening,” the usual phrase is:

heute Abend (today evening / this evening)

Saying Abend heute is not idiomatic and would sound wrong to native speakers.

Similarly:

heute Morgen – this morning
heute Nacht – tonight (during the night)

So: heute Abend, not Abend heute.

Could I move im Wohnzimmer earlier, like: Wir machen heute Abend im Wohnzimmer zusammen Musik?

Yes, that’s grammatically fine and understandable. Word order in the “middle field” (between the verb and the sentence-final field) is relatively flexible.

However, the most neutral, natural order typically keeps:

Time: heute Abend
Manner: zusammen
Place: im Wohnzimmer

So Wir machen heute Abend zusammen Musik im Wohnzimmer sounds smoother and more typical. Moving im Wohnzimmer earlier adds a bit of emphasis on the place (“in the living room”) but is not wrong.