На полдник бабушка дала нам творог с изюмом и сказала, что это полезнее, чем печенье.

На полдник means for an afternoon snack or for a light meal in the afternoon.

Russian often uses на + accusative to mean for in food or meal contexts:

• на завтрак — for breakfast
• на обед — for lunch
• на ужин — for dinner
• на полдник — for an afternoon snack

So На полдник бабушка дала нам... is literally something like For the afternoon snack, Grandma gave us...

Because нам means to us, and after дать (to give), the person receiving something is normally in the dative case.

So the structure is:

• дать кому? что?
• to give to whom? what?

Here:

• нам = to us (dative)
• творог с изюмом = the thing given

So:

• бабушка дала нам творог = Grandma gave us cottage cheese/quark

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

The subject here is бабушка (grandmother), which is feminine, so the verb is feminine too:

• дал — masculine
• дала — feminine
• дало — neuter
• дали — plural

So:

• бабушка дала
• дедушка дал

After с meaning with, Russian normally uses the instrumental case.

So:

• изюм — raisins
• с изюмом — with raisins

This is why it is изюмом, not изюм.

A few similar examples:

• чай с сахаром — tea with sugar
• хлеб с маслом — bread with butter
• йогурт с фруктами — yogurt with fruit

Творог is a common Russian dairy food. It is often translated as cottage cheese, but that is not always a perfect match.

Depending on context, it may be closer to:

• cottage cheese
• farmer’s cheese
• curd cheese
• quark

So in learner-friendly translations, cottage cheese with raisins is common, but culturally творог is its own very familiar Russian food.

Because что introduces a subordinate clause.

Russian punctuation usually puts a comma before что when it means that:

• Она сказала, что устала. — She said that she was tired.
• Я думаю, что он прав. — I think that he is right.

So here:

• сказала, что это полезнее...
• said that this is healthier...

That comma is required in standard Russian spelling.

Это here means this or it, and it refers to the food Grandma gave them: творог с изюмом.

So the idea is:

• Grandma gave us cottage cheese with raisins
• and said that this / it was healthier than cookies

Russian often uses это in a broad way to refer to a thing, situation, or idea just mentioned.

Полезнее is the comparative form of полезный (healthy, good for you, beneficial).

So:

• полезный — healthy / beneficial
• полезнее — healthier / more beneficial

Russian often forms comparatives with endings like:

• -ее
• -ей
• -e
• sometimes irregular patterns

Examples:

• интересный → интереснее — more interesting
• важный → важнее — more important
• быстрый → быстрее — faster

So это полезнее means this is healthier or this is more beneficial.

This is the normal way to say healthier than cookies in Russian:

• полезнее, чем печенье

The word чем means than in comparisons.

Structure:

• X полезнее, чем Y — X is healthier than Y

So:

• это полезнее, чем печенье = this is healthier than cookies

You may also see another comparison pattern in Russian using the genitive, but чем is very common and straightforward for learners.

In Russian, печенье is often used as a collective/mass noun, similar to cookies or biscuits in a general sense.

So even though it looks singular, it can refer to cookies as a category:

• Я люблю печенье. — I like cookies.
• Это полезнее, чем печенье. — This is healthier than cookies.

Russian does have plural forms in some contexts, but печенье very often behaves like a general word for the food.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible.

The sentence begins with На полдник to set the scene first: As an afternoon snack...

Then:

• бабушка дала нам творог с изюмом
• и сказала, что это полезнее, чем печенье

This is a natural narrative order.

Other word orders are possible, but they would change emphasis slightly. For example:

• Бабушка дала нам на полдник творог с изюмом...

  • puts Grandma first

• Творог с изюмом бабушка дала нам на полдник...

  • emphasizes the food

Russian word order is often guided more by emphasis and information flow than by fixed syntax like English.

Дала is the perfective past tense of дать, which presents the action as a completed event: Grandma gave us the food.

If you used давала instead, it would suggest something more habitual, repeated, or process-like, depending on context.

Compare:

• бабушка дала нам творог — Grandma gave us some cottage cheese
• бабушка давала нам творог — Grandma used to give us cottage cheese / was giving us cottage cheese

In this sentence, it is a single completed action in a story, so дала is the natural choice.

Russian does not have articles.

So Russian simply says:

• бабушка
• творог
• печенье

and the listener understands from context whether English would need:

• a grandmother / the grandmother
• some cottage cheese / the cottage cheese
• cookies / the cookies

In this sentence, English naturally adds articles or other determiners during translation, but Russian does not use them.