Questions & Answers about Kan du ändra volymen före refrängen?
What does Kan du mean here, and is it a polite way to ask?
Yes. Kan du literally means can you, and in Swedish it is a very common way to make a polite request.
So Kan du ändra volymen före refrängen? is literally Can you change the volume before the chorus?, but in natural use it often functions like Could you change the volume before the chorus?
It is polite but still fairly direct and natural. If you want to sound even softer, Swedish can also use:
- Kan du vara snäll och ändra volymen före refrängen? = Can you please change the volume before the chorus?
- Skulle du kunna ändra volymen före refrängen? = Could you change the volume before the chorus?
Why does the sentence start with Kan instead of Du kan?
Because this is a question, and Swedish usually puts the verb first in yes/no questions.
Compare:
- Du kan ändra volymen. = You can change the volume.
- Kan du ändra volymen? = Can you change the volume?
So the inversion of kan and du is normal Swedish question word order.
What does ändra mean exactly? Is it the best verb here?