Peux-tu me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte?

Both are possible, but they have different tones and structures.

• Peux-tu ... ? uses inversion: verb + subject pronoun.
  This is a standard way to ask a question in French, especially in written or careful spoken French.
• Tu peux ... ? keeps the normal word order and relies on intonation.
  This is very common in everyday speech.

So:

• Peux-tu me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ? = slightly more structured / standard
• Tu peux me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ? = very natural in conversation

The meaning is basically the same here.

In French, when a question is formed by inversion, the verb and the subject pronoun are joined by a hyphen.

So:

• peux-tu
• avez-vous
• est-il

The hyphen is required in this structure. It is not optional.

French object pronouns usually go before the verb they belong to.

Here, me means to me and is an indirect object pronoun.

So:

• me montrer = show me
• literally, French orders it more like to me show

Compare:

• Tu peux me montrer ? = Can you show me?
• Il va te parler. = He is going to speak to you.
• Je veux lui écrire. = I want to write to him/her.

English often places the pronoun after the verb, but French usually puts it before.

Because peux comes from pouvoir (can / to be able to), and after pouvoir, the next verb normally stays in the infinitive.

So:

• Peux-tu montrer would be wrong here if montrer changed form
• Peux-tu me montrer ... ? is correct

Other examples:

• Je peux venir. = I can come.
• Nous pouvons attendre. = We can wait.
• Tu peux regarder. = You can look.

This is similar to English: after can, we also use the base form of the verb.

L’itinéraire means the route or the way to go from one place to another.

In this sentence, it usually means the route on a map, like directions or a planned path.

A learner might confuse it with:

• l’adresse = the address
• la direction / les directions = direction / directions
• le chemin = the way, path
• le trajet = the journey/trip

So l’itinéraire is specifically the route or itinerary, often shown visually on a map.

Because itinéraire begins with a vowel sound, and French usually contracts le or la before a vowel to l’.

So:

• le + itinéraire becomes l’itinéraire

This happens with many words:

• l’école
• l’hôtel
• l’amie
• l’idée

You cannot say le itinéraire in standard French.

Sur la carte means on the map.

• sur = on
• la carte = the map

So the phrase means that the person wants the route to be pointed out or shown on the map itself.

Be careful: carte can mean different things in French depending on context:

• une carte = a map
• une carte = a card
• la carte in a restaurant = the menu

Here, because of itinéraire, it clearly means map.

Yes. Carte is a feminine noun, and it can mean several things:

• la carte = the map
• la carte bancaire = bank card
• la carte d’identité = ID card
• la carte = menu

French often uses the same word where English uses several different words. The context tells you which meaning is intended.

In sur la carte, with l’itinéraire, the meaning is clearly on the map.

Peux-tu is pronounced approximately like puh-tu, though not exactly like English sounds.

A rough guide:

• peux sounds like peu
• tu has the French u sound, which is not the same as English oo

Important points:

• The x in peux is silent.
• The eu in peux is the same sound as in peu.
• The u in tu is a front rounded vowel, which many English speakers find difficult.

A very rough approximation for beginners is:

• peux-tu ≈ puh-tu

But the French u should be more rounded than English oo.

A rough pronunciation is:

lee-tee-nyeh-rair

A few helpful notes:

• l’ is pronounced like a light l sound attached to the next word.
• iti- is fairly straightforward.
• -néraire is where English speakers may need practice.
• The r is the French r, not the English one.

Also, French stress is much flatter than English. Don’t strongly stress one syllable the way you might in English.

It is polite enough in many situations, but it is informal because it uses tu.

• Peux-tu ... ? = informal singular
• Pouvez-vous ... ? = formal singular or plural

So if you are speaking to:

• a friend, family member, classmate, someone your age in a casual setting: Peux-tu is fine
• a stranger, older person, customer, teacher, or more formal situation: Pouvez-vous is safer

Formal version:

• Pouvez-vous me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ?

Yes, absolutely. That is another very common way to ask the same question.

You have three common ways to form this question:

• Tu peux me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ?
  casual spoken French
• Est-ce que tu peux me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ?
  very common, neutral
• Peux-tu me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ?
  standard, slightly more formal or structured

All three are correct. The difference is mainly style and register, not meaning.

Literally, Peux-tu corresponds to Can you.

However, in actual use, French Peux-tu ... ? can function as a request, just like English Can you ... ?

If you want to sound softer or more polite in French, you might use:

• Pouvez-vous ... ? in a formal context
• Est-ce que tu peux ... ? in a neutral way
• Tu pourrais ... ? = Could you ... ?
• Pourriez-vous ... ? = Could you ... ? (formal)

So Peux-tu is usually best understood as Can you ... ?, though the exact politeness level depends on context.

It actually does: montrer l’itinéraire is exactly show the route.

What may feel different is the placement of the other elements:

• me comes before montrer
• sur la carte comes after l’itinéraire

French word order here is:

• Peux-tu = Can you
• me montrer = show me
• l’itinéraire = the route
• sur la carte = on the map

So the structure is very close to English overall, except for the object pronoun placement.

Yes, but the given order is the most natural and clear.

Standard version:

• Peux-tu me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ?

You might also hear:

• Peux-tu me montrer sur la carte l’itinéraire ?

That is possible, but it sounds a bit less natural in many contexts. The original sentence flows better for most speakers.

So for learners, the safest version is:

• Peux-tu me montrer l’itinéraire sur la carte ?