Word
Kan du stänga fönstret, annars blir sovrummet kallt.
Meaning
Can you close the window, otherwise the bedroom will get cold.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Kan du stänga fönstret, annars blir sovrummet kallt.
du
you
bli
to become
kall
cold
sovrummet
the bedroom
Questions & Answers about Kan du stänga fönstret, annars blir sovrummet kallt.
Why does Swedish use Kan du … here—does it literally mean Can you … or is it more like Could you …?
Literally, Kan du … means Can you …, but in everyday Swedish it’s very commonly used as a polite request, much like English Could you … / Would you … depending on tone.
If you want to sound a bit more formal/softer, Swedish often uses:
- Kan du vara snäll och stänga fönstret? (Can you please close the window?)
- Skulle du kunna stänga fönstret? (Could you close the window?)
Why is it stänga and not stäng?
Because after a modal verb like kan, Swedish uses the infinitive form of the main verb:
- kan + infinitive → kan stänga (can close)
stäng is the imperative (command form):
- Stäng fönstret! = Close the window!
So your sentence is a request with a modal, not an imperative.
What does fönstret mean exactly, and why does it have -et at the end?