Mi abuela hace flan algunos domingos, pero mi hija prefiere natillas de vainilla.

In normal, neutral Spanish, the possessive adjective usually goes before the noun:

• mi abuela
• mi hija

This is the most common way to say my grandmother and my daughter.

The longer pattern la abuela mía / la hija mía does exist, but it is much less neutral and often sounds more emphatic, emotional, or stylistically marked. A learner should usually choose:

• mi + noun

So in this sentence, mi abuela and mi hija are the standard choices.

In Spanish, you normally do not use an article with a possessive adjective before a noun.

So Spanish says:

• mi abuela
• mi hija

not:

• la mi abuela
• la mi hija

This is different from English in some older or poetic styles, but in modern standard Spanish, mi, tu, su, etc. already do the job of marking possession, so no article is needed.

Yes, hacer often means to do or to make, and here it means to make.

In Spanish, hacer is very commonly used for preparing food, especially in a general sense:

• hacer flan
• hacer una tortilla
• hacer una tarta

So Mi abuela hace flan means My grandmother makes flan.

You could sometimes use another verb like preparar or cocinar, but hacer is extremely natural here.

Both verbs are in the present indicative:

• hace = from hacer
• prefiere = from preferir

The present tense is used here because the sentence describes:

1. a habitual action: Mi abuela hace flan algunos domingos
2. a general preference: mi hija prefiere natillas de vainilla

Spanish uses the simple present very often for things that happen regularly or are generally true, just like English does in sentences such as My grandmother makes flan and my daughter prefers vanilla custard.

There is an important difference:

• los domingos = on Sundays / every Sunday / Sundays in general
• algunos domingos = on some Sundays

So:

• Mi abuela hace flan los domingos = she does it regularly on Sundays
• Mi abuela hace flan algunos domingos = she does it only on certain Sundays, not all of them

In this sentence, algunos domingos shows that the action is occasional, not a fixed every-Sunday habit.

This is mainly about how these foods are commonly referred to in Spanish.

• flan is normally treated as a singular noun: hacer flan, comer flan
• natillas is very often used in the plural in Spanish, even when talking about the dessert in a general sense

So prefiere natillas de vainilla is a very natural way to say she prefers that dessert.

This kind of thing is common across languages: some food words behave differently in number, and the most natural form is not always what an English speaker might expect.

In Spanish, flavors are very often expressed with de + noun:

• helado de chocolate
• pastel de limón
• natillas de vainilla

So de vainilla means vanilla-flavored or with vanilla.

This structure is much more normal than trying to place vainilla directly before the noun. Spanish does not use noun-noun combinations the way English often does. English says vanilla custard, but Spanish usually prefers:

• natillas de vainilla

Because preferir is a stem-changing verb.

Its infinitive is preferir, but in the present tense the e in the stem changes to ie in most forms:

• yo prefiero
• tú prefieres
• él/ella prefiere
• nosotros/nosotras preferimos
• vosotros/vosotras preferís
• ellos/ellas prefieren

So mi hija prefiere means my daughter prefers.

This is a very common type of verb pattern in Spanish, and preferir follows it.

Pero means but and connects the two parts of the sentence:

• Mi abuela hace flan algunos domingos
• pero mi hija prefiere natillas de vainilla

It introduces a contrast: the grandmother makes one dessert, but the daughter likes a different one better.

This is the normal conjunction to use for simple contrast. A learner should think of pero as the straightforward equivalent of English but in sentences like this.

Spanish often omits subject pronouns like yo, tú, ella, because the verb ending usually makes the subject clear. But that does not mean you normally omit a full noun subject like mi abuela or mi hija if you want to mention who is doing the action.

So this sentence naturally includes the nouns:

• Mi abuela hace flan...
• ...mi hija prefiere...

If the people were already clear from context, Spanish could sometimes avoid repeating them, but in a sentence like this, including both subjects is perfectly natural and helps make the contrast clear.

Yes, Spanish word order is somewhat flexible, but the version here is the most neutral and natural:

• Mi abuela hace flan algunos domingos, pero mi hija prefiere natillas de vainilla.

You might hear or read other orders for emphasis, such as:

• Algunos domingos mi abuela hace flan...

This puts a little more focus on some Sundays.

But for a learner, the original order is an excellent model: subject + verb + object/complement.

Grammatically, vainilla is a noun, and in de vainilla it stays a noun.

The structure is:

• natillas
  • de
    • vainilla

So rather than turning vainilla into an adjective, Spanish uses a prepositional phrase to describe the type or flavor of the dessert.

English often uses nouns directly before other nouns, as in vanilla custard, but Spanish usually avoids that pattern and prefers de + noun.

Yes, it sounds natural in Spain.

In Peninsular Spanish:

• flan is a very common dessert word
• natillas is also a very common dessert word
• algunos domingos
• pero
• prefiere
• de vainilla

are all standard and natural.

So for a learner focusing on Spanish from Spain, this sentence is a good example of everyday, standard usage.