हम अक्सर शाम को साथ खाना बनाते हैं।

to be

Breakdown of हम अक्सर शाम को साथ खाना बनाते हैं।

• खाना: food
• हम: we
• शाम को: in the evening

Questions & Answers about हम अक्सर शाम को साथ खाना बनाते हैं।

Why is the verb बनाते हैं and not something else?

बनाते हैं is the present habitual form of बनाना (to make / to cook in this context).

It is used because the sentence describes something that happens regularly: we often cook together.

Breakdown:

• बना- = verb stem from बनाना
• -ते = habitual ending used with a masculine plural subject, or a mixed-gender group
• हैं = auxiliary verb matching हम (we)

So हम ... बनाते हैं = we ... cook / we make

If the group were entirely female, it would usually be:

• हम अक्सर शाम को साथ खाना बनाती हैं।

Why does हम take हैं?

Because हम means we, which is grammatically plural, and plural subjects normally take हैं in the present tense.

Examples:

• मैं जाता हूँ = I go
• तुम जाते हो = you go
• हम जाते हैं = we go
• वे जाते हैं = they go

So in your sentence:

• हम ... बनाते हैं = we cook

What does अक्सर mean exactly, and where does it go in the sentence?