Can you please or Could you please | WordReference Forums

Both are correct. The first is more direct, and the second is more polite. Could you please . . . gives slightly more room for refusal than Can ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. CanyoupleaseorCouldyouplease Threadstarter rempress Startdate Oct9,2011 R rempress Member Tagalog Whichiscorrect: Canyoupleasesendussamples? Couldyoupleasesendussamples? Pleasegiveabriefexplanationwhy?   timtfj SeniorMember NorthwestEngland UKEnglish Botharecorrect.Thefirstismoredirect,andthesecondismorepolite.Couldyouplease...givesslightlymoreroomforrefusalthanCanyouplease...   MuttQuad SeniorMember NewYork,NY English-AmE rempresssaid: Whichiscorrect: Canyoupleasesendussamples? Couldyoupleasesendussamples? Pleasegiveabriefexplanationwhy? Clicktoexpand... Canyouasksifthereisanabilitytosendthesamples. Couldyouassumesthereisanabilitybutasksifthereisawillingness. Inactualpractice,however,mostpeoplewillusethetwoversionsinterchangeably.   Subhajit12 Banned Hindi Addedtopreviousthread. Cagey,moderator Could/cananyonetellmewhatthedifferencebetween'can'and'could'inthefollowingsentencesis?And,aretheyinterchangeableinthefollowingcontext?WhatDifferencedothewords'can'and'could'createwhenmakingarequestoranoffer? Herearetheexamples: Suppose,IamlookingforaparticularbankbutIdon'tknowwherethebankis.Imeetanoldmanandwanttoknowthedirectionofthebankfromhim.SoIaskhim"Can/couldyoupleasetellmewherethebankis?" Could/cananyonepleaseteachmehowtosharevideosandphotosonFacebook? Asusual,ifthereisanythingungrammaticalinmywriting,pleasecorrectit.   Lasteditedbyamoderator:Dec27,2017 TheNewt SeniorMember USA/EEUU English-US "Could"isslightlymorepoliteinyourexamples,andIwoulduseitratherthan"can,"althoughthedifferenceisactualmeaninghereisnotsignificant.   EnquiringMind SeniorMember UK/Českárepublika English-theQueen's Youcanuseeither"can"or"could",Subhajit12."Could"ismoredeferential. Canorcould(...)Instructionsandrequests:Weusecouldyouasapolitewayoftellingoraskingsomeonetodosomething: Couldyoutakeamessageplease?CouldIhavemybillplease? Canislesspolite:Canyoutakeamessageplease?(britishcouncil.org) Clicktoexpand...   Lastedited:Dec27,2017 Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top