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¿Nos trae la cuenta, por favor?

¿Nos trae la cuenta, por favor?
Can you bring us the bill, please?
From Lesson 82:At the restaurant (la carta, el menú del día)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about ¿Nos trae la cuenta, por favor?

The English translation says 'Can you bring', but there is no word for 'can' in the Spanish sentence. Why?
In Spanish, it is very common to use the simple present tense to make polite requests. While you could use the verb for 'can' and say ¿Nos puede traer la cuenta?, simply saying ¿Nos trae...? (literally 'Do you bring us...?') sounds perfectly natural and polite in a restaurant setting.
Why is the verb trae used here instead of traes if I am talking to 'you' (the waiter)?
Trae is the formal usted (you, formal) form of the verb traer (to bring). Even though the casual tú is very common in Spain, using usted with waiters or service staff is a safe and polite way to ask for the bill.
Why does nos come before the verb instead of after it?
Nos is an indirect object pronoun meaning 'to us'. In Spanish, these object pronouns must go directly before a conjugated verb. So, 'bring us' becomes nos trae (literally 'to us you bring').
Could I attach the pronoun to the verb and say tráenos?
Yes, but that changes the sentence into a direct command (the imperative form) using the informal tú. While Tráenos la cuenta, por favor is grammatically correct, asking it as a question with ¿Nos trae...? is usually considered softer and more polite.

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