Vil De forresten sige til, hvis De overhovedet ikke kan åbne filen?

By the way, will you let me know if you cannot open the file at all?

Breakdown of Vil De forresten sige til, hvis De overhovedet ikke kan åbne filen?

• åbne: to open
• hvis: if
• kunne: can
• ikke: not

Questions & Answers about Vil De forresten sige til, hvis De overhovedet ikke kan åbne filen?

Why is De capitalized, and what does it mean here?

De is the formal way to say you in Danish, and it is traditionally capitalized.

So in this sentence, De means you, but in a polite, respectful, somewhat formal way.

A few useful points:

• De = formal singular or plural you
• du = normal informal singular you
• I = informal plural you (less common in many everyday situations, where people often still use I or just restructure the sentence)

In modern Danish, De is much less common than it used to be. Most people would normally say du unless they want to sound especially formal, old-fashioned, or very polite.

A more everyday version would be:

• Vil du forresten sige til, hvis du overhovedet ikke kan åbne filen?

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Why does the sentence start with Vil? Does it mean will?