Gegen den Husten hilft mir manchmal ein Hustenbonbon, aber meine Mutter vertraut eher auf ein altes Hausmittel.

German main clauses often move one element to the first position to set the topic or focus. Here, Gegen den Husten is placed first to frame the sentence as as for the cough / for the cough.

Because German main clauses still keep the finite verb in second position, the verb comes next:

Gegen den Husten hilft ...

That means the subject can appear later:

Gegen den Husten hilft mir manchmal ein Hustenbonbon.

A more neutral order would be:

Ein Hustenbonbon hilft mir manchmal gegen den Husten.

Both are grammatical, but the emphasis is slightly different.

Because gegen always takes the accusative case.

• der Husten = nominative
• den Husten = accusative

So:

• gegen den Husten = against the cough

This is a fixed rule for the preposition gegen.

Literally, gegen means against. In health-related contexts, German often uses gegen where English might say for:

• etwas gegen Kopfschmerzen = something for headaches
• Medizin gegen Husten = medicine for a cough

So Gegen den Husten is literally against the cough, but in natural English it often corresponds to for the cough.

Because the verb helfen takes a dative object, not an accusative object.

• jemandem helfen = to help someone

So:

• mir = to me
• mich = me

In this sentence, mir is correct because the cough drop is helping me in the dative sense:

Ein Hustenbonbon hilft mir.

Other examples:

• Kannst du mir helfen?
• Das Medikament hilft ihm.

The subject is ein Hustenbonbon.

That is why the verb is singular:

• ein Hustenbonbon hilft

Even though mir comes right after the verb, mir is not the subject. It is the dative object.

So the structure is basically:

• Gegen den Husten = prepositional phrase
• hilft = verb
• mir = dative object
• manchmal = adverb
• ein Hustenbonbon = subject

This is very normal in German, where the subject does not have to come before the verb.

German adverbs are fairly flexible, especially in the middle of the sentence. Here, manchmal fits naturally after the dative pronoun mir:

hilft mir manchmal ein Hustenbonbon

This sounds natural because short pronouns like mir often come early, and time words like manchmal often come after them.

You could also hear other orders, depending on emphasis, but this version is very idiomatic.

Yes. German very often combines nouns into one compound word.

• Husten = cough
• Bonbon = candy / lozenge

So:

• das Hustenbonbon = cough drop / cough lozenge

In German, the last part usually determines the gender. Since das Bonbon is neuter, das Hustenbonbon is also neuter.

Because aber is a coordinating conjunction. It connects two main clauses and does not send the verb to the end.

So you get:

..., aber meine Mutter vertraut eher auf ein altes Hausmittel.

This is normal main-clause word order, with the verb in second position.

Compare that with a subordinating conjunction like weil, which would send the verb to the end:

• ..., weil meine Mutter eher auf ein altes Hausmittel vertraut.

So aber behaves more like English but.

Eher means something like rather, more readily, or more inclined to.

In this sentence, it suggests preference or tendency:

• meine Mutter vertraut eher auf ein altes Hausmittel

This means she tends to rely more on an old home remedy, rather than on something else.

So eher adds a comparison, even if the comparison is only implied.

Here, the sentence uses the expression auf etwas vertrauen, which means to rely on or to place trust in something.

That construction uses auf + accusative, so:

• auf ein altes Hausmittel

This is worth noticing because vertrauen can also appear without auf and then takes the dative:

• jemandem vertrauen = to trust someone
• einer Methode vertrauen = to trust a method

But auf etwas vertrauen is also common and often has a sense of relying on something.

Because Hausmittel is a neuter noun:

• das Hausmittel

After ein with a neuter singular noun, the adjective takes -es in nominative and accusative singular:

• ein altes Hausmittel

So the ending matches the grammar of:

• ein
  • neuter singular noun
• here after auf, so accusative singular

That is why altes is correct.

Hausmittel means home remedy or traditional household remedy.

It usually suggests something familiar, old-fashioned, or passed down in the family, such as tea, honey, onion syrup, or similar simple remedies.

So ein altes Hausmittel has a slightly traditional feel, not just any medicine.

Yes. That would be completely correct.

It simply changes the focus:

• Gegen den Husten hilft mir manchmal ein Hustenbonbon puts the cough first as the topic
• Ein Hustenbonbon hilft mir manchmal gegen den Husten puts the cough drop first as the topic

German allows this kind of flexibility much more than English does.

The comma separates two main clauses:

1. Gegen den Husten hilft mir manchmal ein Hustenbonbon
2. aber meine Mutter vertraut eher auf ein altes Hausmittel

In German, when two full main clauses are joined by a conjunction like aber, a comma is normally used.