Kannst du bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen?

Because kannst du means can you.

German often uses can you ... ? to make a polite request, just like English:

• Kannst du das Badezimmer sauber machen? = Can you clean the bathroom?

Grammar:

• können = to be able to / can
• du = you (singular, informal)
• kannst = the du form of können

So Kannst du ... ? is a very common way to ask someone to do something.

Because können is a modal verb, and in German, modal verbs usually send the main verb to the end in its infinitive form.

So:

• kannst = conjugated modal verb
• machen = main verb, left in the infinitive at the end

Structure:

• Kannst du bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen?

This is very normal German word order with modal verbs.

Compare:

• Du machst das Badezimmer sauber. = You clean the bathroom.
• Du kannst das Badezimmer sauber machen. = You can clean the bathroom.
• Kannst du das Badezimmer sauber machen? = Can you clean the bathroom?

Sauber machen literally means to make clean, but in natural English it usually means to clean.

So:

• das Badezimmer sauber machen = to clean the bathroom

It is a very common everyday expression.

A close synonym is putzen:

• Kannst du bitte das Badezimmer putzen?
• Kannst du bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen?

Both can mean Can you please clean the bathroom?

But sauber machen can sound a little more general and conversational.

Because sauber here is not being used like an adjective directly before a noun. It is part of the expression sauber machen.

Compare these:

• das saubere Badezimmer = the clean bathroom
  Here saubere describes Badezimmer, so it changes form.

• das Badezimmer sauber machen = to make the bathroom clean / to clean the bathroom
  Here sauber is not directly before the noun. It describes the result of the action, so it stays as sauber.

This is similar to English:

• the clean bathroom
• make the bathroom clean

Because Badezimmer is a neuter noun in German, so its article is das.

• das Badezimmer = the bathroom

Also, in this sentence it is the direct object, and for neuter nouns the nominative and accusative article are both das.

So:

• nominative: das Badezimmer
• accusative: das Badezimmer

That is why the article does not change here.

Bitte means please here.

It makes the request more polite:

• Kannst du das Badezimmer sauber machen? = Can you clean the bathroom?
• Kannst du bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen? = Can you please clean the bathroom?

German uses bitte very often in requests, just like English uses please.

Its position can be somewhat flexible:

• Kannst du bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen?
• Kannst du das Badezimmer bitte sauber machen?

Both are natural.

Du is the informal singular you.

So this sentence is something you would say to:

• a friend
• a family member
• a child
• someone you are on informal terms with

If you wanted to be formal, you would use Sie:

• Können Sie bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen?

That means Could you please clean the bathroom? in a formal or polite context.

So the choice between du and Sie depends on the relationship between the speakers.

In real life, it is usually a request, not a literal question about ability.

Literally, Kannst du ... ? means Are you able to ... ?
But in everyday speech, it often functions like:

• Can you ... ?
• Could you ... ?

So here it most likely means:

• Could you please clean the bathroom?

German uses this kind of wording very naturally for requests.

Yes. A more direct version would be:

• Mach bitte das Badezimmer sauber.

That means:

• Clean the bathroom, please.

This is grammatically correct, but it sounds more direct than Kannst du bitte ... ?

So:

• Kannst du bitte ... ? = softer, more polite request
• Mach bitte ... = direct instruction

Both are common, but they create a different tone.

It is written as two words in this meaning:

• sauber machen

That is because sauber is an adjective and machen is the verb.

Examples:

• Ich mache die Küche sauber.
• Kannst du das Bad sauber machen?

Be careful not to confuse this with single-word verbs that are separable. Here, it is simply an adjective + verb combination.

Yes. In everyday German, Bad is very common and often more natural in casual speech.

So these are both fine:

• Kannst du bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen?
• Kannst du bitte das Bad sauber machen?

Both mean Can you please clean the bathroom?

Badezimmer is a bit more explicit or formal-sounding; Bad is shorter and very common.

You would use ihr instead of du and change the verb form:

• Könnt ihr bitte das Badezimmer sauber machen?

That means:

• Can you guys please clean the bathroom?

So:

• du kannst = you can (one person, informal)
• ihr könnt = you can (more than one person, informal)

A simple approximate pronunciation for an English speaker is:

kahnst doo BIT-tuh dahs BAH-duh-tsim-mer ZOW-ber MAH-khen

A few notes:

• kannst has a short a, like in Kahn but shorter
• bitte ends with a weak -e, like uh
• Badezimmer has stress on Ba-
• sauber sounds roughly like ZOW-ber
• machen has the German ch sound, not a hard English k

You do not need a perfect accent to be understood, but getting the stress right helps a lot.