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Mi potresti portare la lana che è vicino al pennello?

Mi potresti portare la lana che è vicino al pennello?
Could you bring me the wool that is near the paintbrush?
From Lesson 131:Relative pronouns (che)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Mi potresti portare la lana che è vicino al pennello?

Why use potresti instead of puoi here?
Potresti is the present conditional form of potere (to be able to/can). While puoi translates to 'can you', potresti means 'could you'. Using the conditional makes the request much softer and more polite, which is the standard way to ask for a favor in Italian.
Why is mi at the very beginning of the sentence?
Because this sentence uses a modal verb (potere) followed by an infinitive verb (portare), you have a choice! You can place the pronoun mi before the conjugated verb, as done here (Mi potresti portare...), or you can drop the final 'e' of the infinitive and attach it to the end (Potresti portarmi...). Both are perfectly correct and mean the exact same thing.
Why do we say vicino al pennello instead of just vicino il pennello?
In Italian, the word vicino (near/close) is almost always followed by the preposition a (to) when describing where something is located. So, you are literally saying 'close to the paintbrush'. When the preposition a meets the masculine singular article il, they combine to form the word al.
Why do we use che in the middle of this sentence?
Here, che is a relative pronoun meaning 'that' or 'which', used to connect the wool to its description (the wool that is near the paintbrush). Che is an incredibly versatile word and can be used to link phrases referring to both objects and people.

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