Breakdown of ¿Tú puedes dormir en el autobús?
tú
you (informal singular)
en
in / on / at
el autobús
bus
poder
to be able to / can
Questions & Answers about ¿Tú puedes dormir en el autobús?
Why is it puedes instead of "podes"?
Puedes comes from the verb poder (to be able to / can). It is a stem-changing verb. When conjugated for tú (informal you), the o in the stem changes to ue, making it puedes.
The lesson says dormir is also an "o -> ue" verb. Why isn't it changed to duermes here?
In English we say "on the bus", but this sentence uses en. Doesn't en mean "in"?
En translates to both "in" and "on" depending on the context. For most forms of transportation (buses, trains, planes, cars), Spanish simply uses en.
Why doesn't the word order change to make it a question?
In English, we swap words to ask a question ("You can" becomes "Can you?"). In Spanish, you can usually just keep the same word order as a normal statement (Tú puedes...) and add question marks and an inquiring tone of voice.