¿Podría usted pasarme el salero y el pimentero cuando traiga la sopa, por favor?

Podría is the conditional form of poder, and it makes the request sound more polite, less direct, and more formal.

• ¿Puede usted...? = Can you...?
• ¿Podría usted...? = Could you...?

In a restaurant or when speaking politely to someone you do not know well, podría is very natural.

Usted is the formal you in Spanish. It is used to show respect or distance, especially with:

• waiters
• shop staff
• older people
• strangers
• formal situations

It is not always necessary to say it, because the verb form already shows formality:

• ¿Podría pasarme el salero...?
• ¿Podría usted pasarme el salero...?

Both are correct. Adding usted makes the sentence feel a bit more explicit or formal.

Pasarme is pasar + me.

Here, pasar means to pass / hand over, and me means to me.

So:

• pasar = to pass
• pasarme = to pass to me

Spanish often attaches object pronouns to the infinitive:

• ¿Podría pasarme el salero?

You could also place the pronoun before the conjugated verb:

• ¿Me podría pasar el salero?

Both are correct.

Because salero and pimentero are the containers/shakers, not the substances themselves.

• la sal = salt
• la pimienta = pepper
• el salero = salt shaker / salt cellar
• el pimentero = pepper shaker

So this sentence is asking for the salt and pepper containers, which fits the restaurant context very well.

Spanish often uses the definite article more than English does.

In English, we might say:

• Pass me the salt and pepper

In Spanish, it is very normal to say:

• Pásame el salero y el pimentero

Repeating el before each noun is standard and natural. Spanish usually does this when naming two separate objects.

After cuando, Spanish often uses the present subjunctive when talking about a future action that has not happened yet.

So:

• cuando traiga la sopa = when you bring the soup

This is not talking about a habitual action or a present fact. It refers to something expected in the future, so Spanish uses traiga, the present subjunctive of traer.

Compare:

• Cuando trae la sopa, siempre se le olvida el pan.
  = When he brings the soup, he always forgets the bread.
  Here it is habitual, so indicative is used.

• Cuando traiga la sopa, ¿me pasa el salero?
  = future event, so subjunctive is used.

Because the whole sentence is addressed to usted.

So both verbs match the same formal person:

• ¿Podría usted...
• ...cuando traiga la sopa

The verb traiga here means when you bring in the formal singular.

If you were speaking informally to tú, it would be:

• ¿Podrías pasarme el salero y el pimentero cuando traigas la sopa, por favor?

Notice the change:

• podría / traiga = usted
• podrías / traigas = tú

Yes. Grammatically, the most natural reading is that the person you are speaking to is also the one who will bring the soup.

That is why this sounds especially appropriate in a restaurant, addressed to a waiter or server.

If you wanted to avoid that idea and simply say when the soup arrives, you might say something like:

• cuando traigan la sopa = when they bring the soup
• cuando llegue la sopa = when the soup arrives

But in the original sentence, it sounds like the speaker expects you to bring it.

Yes, it is perfectly natural at the end.

• ¿Podría usted pasarme el salero y el pimentero cuando traiga la sopa, por favor?

That is a very common position. But por favor is flexible in Spanish. You could also hear:

• Por favor, ¿podría usted pasarme el salero y el pimentero cuando traiga la sopa?
• ¿Podría usted, por favor, pasarme el salero y el pimentero cuando traiga la sopa?

Putting it at the end is often the simplest and most natural option.

It is grammatically correct and polite, but it is slightly on the formal and careful side.

A native speaker might also say something shorter, such as:

• ¿Me podría traer el salero y el pimentero con la sopa, por favor?
• ¿Me trae el salero y el pimentero cuando me traiga la sopa, por favor?
• ¿Me puede traer sal y pimienta con la sopa, por favor?

So the original sentence is fine, especially for practice, but everyday speech is often a bit shorter or more direct.

Spanish uses two question marks:

• ¿ at the beginning
• ? at the end

So every direct question is framed like this:

• ¿Podría usted pasarme el salero...?

This helps the reader know from the start that the sentence is a question.

They describe two different actions:

• traer la sopa = to bring the soup
• pasarme el salero y el pimentero = to pass / hand me the salt shaker and pepper shaker

So the sentence is basically asking:

1. when you bring the soup,
2. could you also hand me the salt and pepper containers?

A learner may confuse the two because both can translate as bring in some contexts, but here they are clearly separate actions.

Yes, in many situations you could say darme, but pasarme fits especially well when someone is physically handing you an object across the table or directly to you.

Compare:

• ¿Podría pasarme el salero...? = Could you pass me the salt shaker?
• ¿Podría darme el salero...? = Could you give me the salt shaker?

Both are possible, but pasar often sounds more natural for table items.