Für meine Mutter kaufe ich einen kleinen Strauß mit Rosen und Tulpen.

German often puts a different element first for emphasis. Here, Für meine Mutter is in the first position to highlight for my mother.

Because German main clauses normally keep the finite verb in second position, the verb kaufe must come next:

• Für meine Mutter kaufe ich ...
• Ich kaufe für meine Mutter ...

Both are correct. The version in your sentence emphasizes for my mother a bit more.

Because für always takes the accusative case.

So:

• für meine Mutter = correct
• für meiner Mutter = incorrect

The noun Mutter is feminine, and the feminine accusative form of mein- is meine.

A quick comparison:

• nominative: meine Mutter
• accusative: meine Mutter
• dative: meiner Mutter

In this sentence, für requires the accusative, so you get für meine Mutter.

This is because Strauß is a masculine noun: der Strauß.

In the sentence, it is the direct object of kaufe, so it is in the accusative case. For a masculine noun in the accusative:

• ein becomes einen
• the adjective gets -en, so klein becomes kleinen

So:

• nominative: ein kleiner Strauß
• accusative: einen kleinen Strauß

That is why the sentence has einen kleinen Strauß.

The verb kaufen usually takes something that is being bought. In this sentence, the thing being bought is einen kleinen Strauß.

So:

• ich = subject, the person doing the buying
• kaufe = verb
• einen kleinen Strauß = direct object, the thing being bought
• für meine Mutter = a prepositional phrase showing who it is for
• mit Rosen und Tulpen = a phrase describing the bouquet

If you ask What am I buying?, the answer is einen kleinen Strauß.

Because German main clauses use the verb-second rule.

If something other than the subject comes first, the verb still stays in second position, and the subject moves after the verb.

So:

• Ich kaufe einen kleinen Strauß ...
• Für meine Mutter kaufe ich einen kleinen Strauß ...

This is very normal in German and does not make it a question.

Yes, mit always takes the dative case.

The reason you do not see a big change here is that Rosen and Tulpen are plural nouns, and their forms already fit the dative plural in this context.

Important points:

• mit
  • dative
• plural nouns in the dative often add -n, if they do not already have it
• Rosen already ends in -n
• Tulpen already ends in -n

So the forms stay:

• mit Rosen
• mit Tulpen

If there were an article, you would see the dative more clearly:

• mit den Rosen und Tulpen

German often leaves out the article when talking about the contents or type of something in a general way.

So ein Strauß mit Rosen und Tulpen means a bouquet with roses and tulips.

This sounds natural because the flowers are being named as what the bouquet contains, not as specific previously mentioned roses and tulips.

If you added an article, it would sound more specific:

• mit den Rosen und Tulpen = with the roses and tulips

That would usually refer to particular roses and tulips already known from the context.

Yes, that is also correct.

German has two common ways to express the recipient here:

1. für + accusative

   • Ich kaufe einen kleinen Strauß für meine Mutter.
   • Emphasizes that the bouquet is intended for her.

2. dative object

   • Ich kaufe meiner Mutter einen kleinen Strauß.
   • Means I am buying my mother a small bouquet.

Both are natural. The version with für meine Mutter can sound a little more explicit about the bouquet being intended for her.

Yes. That is completely correct.

German word order is flexible as long as the main rules are followed, especially the verb-second rule in main clauses.

These are all possible:

• Für meine Mutter kaufe ich einen kleinen Strauß mit Rosen und Tulpen.
• Ich kaufe für meine Mutter einen kleinen Strauß mit Rosen und Tulpen.
• Einen kleinen Strauß mit Rosen und Tulpen kaufe ich für meine Mutter.

They all mean basically the same thing, but the first element gets more emphasis.

Because adjective endings in German depend on:

• the case
• the gender
• the article before the noun

Here, Strauß is:

• masculine
• accusative
• preceded by einen

In that pattern, the adjective takes -en:

• einen kleinen Strauß

Compare:

• nominative masculine: ein kleiner Strauß
• accusative masculine: einen kleinen Strauß

This masculine accusative pattern is one of the most important adjective-ending patterns to learn.

The dictionary form is der Strauß.

The letter ß is called Eszett or scharfes S. It is part of standard German spelling. In Germany and Austria, Strauß is the normal spelling.

A few useful notes:

• der Strauß can mean bouquet or bunch
• in other contexts, der Strauß can also mean ostrich, so context matters
• in Switzerland, ß is usually written as ss, so you may see Strauss

In your sentence, the meaning is clearly bouquet.

Here is a breakdown:

• Für meine Mutter = prepositional phrase, accusative because of für
• kaufe = finite verb
• ich = subject, nominative
• einen kleinen Strauß = direct object, accusative
• mit Rosen und Tulpen = prepositional phrase, dative because of mit

So the sentence contains:

• nominative: ich
• accusative: meine Mutter, einen kleinen Strauß
• dative: Rosen und Tulpen after mit

Because the bouquet contains multiple flowers: roses and tulips.

Their singular and plural forms are:

• die Rose → die Rosen
• die Tulpe → die Tulpen

After mit, the plural forms stay Rosen and Tulpen here, since they already have the ending commonly seen in the dative plural.

So mit Rosen und Tulpen means with roses and tulips.