Breakdown of Können Sie das bitte wiederholen?
Sie
you (formal)
können
can / to be able to
bitte
please
wiederholen
to repeat
Questions & Answers about Können Sie das bitte wiederholen?
The lesson is about the imperative. Why is this a question with Können instead of an imperative?
While you could use the formal imperative Wiederholen Sie das bitte! (Repeat that, please!), phrasing it as a question with Können Sie... (Can you...) is a very common and polite way to make a request in German, just like in English.
Why is wiederholen at the very end of the sentence?
This sentence uses the modal verb können (can). When you use a modal verb in German, the main action verb gets pushed to the very end of the sentence in its basic dictionary form.
Doesn't das usually mean the? Why does it translate to that here?
Yes, das is the neuter word for the, but it is also frequently used as a pronoun to mean that or this. Here, it simply refers back to whatever the other person just said.
Why is Sie capitalized in the middle of the sentence?
The formal you in German, Sie, is always capitalized no matter where it appears in a sentence. If it were written with a lowercase s here, können sie would mean can they instead.
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