Where should mir bitte be placed in a Question sentence that have a dative pronoun and an akkusative object?

Question

I have two sentences:

Are both grammatically correct? Is there any rule governing the positions in this question.

Björn Friedrich · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-22 10:36:36Z

4

Kannst du mir bitte mein Mittagessen geben?

This is the standard sentence when you want to ask someone to hand the lunch over to you.

Kannst du mein Mittagessen mir geben, bitte?
_{(Notice the comma before bitte.)}

This sentence is marked. The position of mir causes it to be stressed, so that you could imagine that the sentence goes on something like this:

Kannst du mein Mittagessen mir geben, bitte, anstatt es selber aufzuessen?

answered May 22 '19 at 9:31

Björn Friedrich

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1

very well explained. What if I place mir just after du as in the first sentence but keep the bitte in the last after the comma?
– akshit bhatia
May 22 '19 at 9:41
1

@akshitbhatia When bitte appears separated with a comma, then it functions as a particle. Otherwise it is an adverb that modifies the verb geben. The meaning of Kanst du mir mein Mittagessen geben, bitte? is similar to that of sentence 2.
– Björn Friedrich
May 22 '19 at 10:29

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