В выходные я люблю готовить лёгкий ужин для семьи.

On weekends I like to cook a light dinner for the family.

Breakdown of В выходные я люблю готовить лёгкий ужин для семьи.

• я: I
• любить: to love
• ужин: the dinner
• для: for

Questions & Answers about В выходные я люблю готовить лёгкий ужин для семьи.

What does В выходные literally mean, and why is выходные in that form?

В выходные literally means “on (the) weekends” or “at weekends”.

• выходные comes from выходной (day off).
• Here it’s plural: выходные (дни) = days off / weekends.
• After в with a meaning of time (when?), Russian often uses the accusative case, but:
  • выходные has the same form in nominative plural and accusative plural, so it looks the same.
• So grammatically it’s в + accusative plural, but the form coincides with the nominative.

You can think of В выходные as a fixed phrase = “On weekends”.

Could I say по выходным or на выходных instead of в выходные? Are there differences?