Mein Freund macht am Wochenende Rührei, aber für seine Schwester kocht er eine vegane Suppe mit Lauch und Süßkartoffel.

In German, machen is very commonly used for preparing food in a general sense, especially everyday dishes:

• Rührei machen = to make scrambled eggs
• Frühstück machen = to make breakfast

You can sometimes hear kochen with food too, but Rührei machen sounds especially natural because scrambled eggs are seen as something you make/prepare, not just boil/cook in the narrow sense.

So:

• Mein Freund macht Rührei. = My friend makes scrambled eggs.

is completely normal German.

Am Wochenende means at the weekend or on the weekend.

It is a contraction of:

• an dem Wochenende → am Wochenende

This is very common in German:

• am Montag = on Monday
• am Abend = in the evening
• am Wochenende = on/at the weekend

So am is just an + dem.

Because aber is a coordinating conjunction, and in German it is normally separated by a comma when it links two main clauses.

Here the sentence has two main clauses:

1. Mein Freund macht am Wochenende Rührei
2. aber für seine Schwester kocht er eine vegane Suppe ...

So the comma helps mark the boundary between them.

This is standard German punctuation.

Because für always takes the accusative case.

The noun Schwester is feminine, so the possessive determiner sein- has to be in the feminine accusative form:

• nominative: seine Schwester
• accusative: seine Schwester

For feminine nouns, nominative and accusative look the same here.

Compare with masculine:

• nominative: sein Bruder
• accusative: seinen Bruder

So after für, seine Schwester is correct.

Because German main clauses follow the verb-second rule.

That means the finite verb must come in the second position, no matter what comes first.

In the second clause, the first element is:

• für seine Schwester

So the verb must come next:

• für seine Schwester kocht er ...

not:

• für seine Schwester er kocht ... ❌

This is one of the most important word-order rules in German.

You can think of it like this:

• Er kocht eine Suppe.
• Für seine Schwester kocht er eine Suppe.

When you move something else to the front, the verb stays in second position, and the subject moves after the verb.

No. Aber does not count as an element occupying the first slot of the clause.

It is a coordinating conjunction, like but in English. After aber, the clause starts fresh, and then normal main-clause word order applies.

So in:

• aber für seine Schwester kocht er ...

the first slot is für seine Schwester, and the second slot is kocht.

Compare:

• Er kocht eine Suppe.
• Aber für seine Schwester kocht er eine Suppe.

So aber introduces the clause, but it does not take up position 1 in the verb-second structure.

Because Suppe is a feminine noun, and here it is the direct object of kocht, so it is in the accusative case.

With an indefinite article, feminine accusative looks like this:

• eine Suppe

The adjective also has to agree:

• vegan → vegane

So:

• eine vegane Suppe = a vegan soup

Breakdown:

• eine = feminine accusative indefinite article
• vegane = adjective ending that matches
• Suppe = feminine noun

In German, when listing ingredients, it is very common to leave out articles.

So:

• mit Lauch und Süßkartoffel

means:

• with leek and sweet potato

This sounds like an ingredient list or recipe-style phrasing.

You could also hear versions with articles in other contexts, but without articles is very natural for ingredients.

English does something similar:

• soup with leek and sweet potato

rather than always saying

• soup with a leek and a sweet potato

Not necessarily. In ingredient language, German often uses the singular to refer to something as an ingredient or substance in a general sense.

So:

• mit Lauch und Süßkartoffel

can mean with leek and sweet potato in a general ingredient sense.

You may also hear the plural:

• mit Lauch und Süßkartoffeln

That can sound more like actual pieces or multiple sweet potatoes as ingredients.

So both can be possible depending on style and nuance. The singular here is not strange.

You’re right: mit does take the dative.

However, in this sentence there is no article, so the dative is not very visible.

• mit Lauch
• mit Süßkartoffel

Without articles, many nouns do not show a clear extra ending in everyday modern German.

If articles were added, you would see the dative more clearly:

• mit dem Lauch
• mit der Süßkartoffel

So the dative is still there grammatically; it just is not obvious from the bare nouns alone.

It can mean either, depending on context.

• mein Freund can mean my friend
• mein Freund can also mean my boyfriend

German often relies on context to tell you which one is meant.

If someone wants to be very clear, they might say:

• ein Freund von mir = a friend of mine
• mein fester Freund = my boyfriend (less neutral, but clear)

In your sentence alone, both interpretations are possible unless the surrounding context makes it clear.

Because all German nouns are capitalized.

That is a standard spelling rule in German.

So in this sentence, the nouns include:

• Freund
• Wochenende
• Rührei
• Schwester
• Suppe
• Lauch
• Süßkartoffel

This is one of the most noticeable differences from English.

It can do either, depending on context.

• am Wochenende can mean this/on the weekend
• it can also mean at weekends / on weekends, especially in a habitual sense

In your sentence, it could mean:

• My friend makes scrambled eggs on the weekend
• or My friend makes scrambled eggs at weekends

If German wants to be more clearly general, it might also say:

• an den Wochenenden = on weekends

But am Wochenende is very often used naturally for both specific and habitual meanings.

Because German normally needs an explicit subject in each main clause.

The first clause has:

• Mein Freund macht ...

The second clause is a new main clause, so it needs its own subject:

• aber ... kocht er ...

German does not usually omit the subject the way some languages do.

So the repetition of er is normal and necessary.