Learn German: Können Sie mir das Dokument drucken? - Can you print the document for me?

In German, you can often use a dative pronoun like mir (to/for me) to show who benefits from an action, rather than using a prepositional phrase like für mich. While Können Sie das Dokument für mich drucken? is also perfectly correct, using the dative mir is very natural and commonly used in everyday speech.

Why does mir come before das Dokument?

This follows a standard German word order rule: when a sentence has both a pronoun and a full noun as objects, the pronoun almost always comes first. Here, the dative pronoun mir precedes the accusative noun phrase das Dokument.

Could I use ausdrucken instead of drucken here?

Yes, absolutely! The separable verb ausdrucken specifically means 'to print out' (like a digital file or document), while drucken is the general word for 'to print'. In a modern office setting, ausdrucken is actually used more often, but drucken is completely fine and clearly understood in this context.

Could I use Könnten instead of Können to sound more polite?