Jag ber dig att vänta här en minut.

Be is the infinitive, meaning to ask / to request.
Ber is the present tense form, so Jag ber dig ... means I ask you ... or I am asking you ...

This verb is irregular:

• be — infinitive
• ber — present
• bad — past
• bett — supine

So the sentence uses ber because the speaker is doing the action now.

Because dig is the object form of du.

• du = you as the subject
• dig = you as the object

Compare:

• Du väntar här. = You are waiting here.
• Jag ber dig att vänta här. = I ask you to wait here.

In this sentence, you is receiving the action of ber, so Swedish uses dig.

Also, dig normally refers to one person. If you were speaking to more than one person, you would usually say er instead:

• Jag ber er att vänta här en minut.

Here, att is the infinitive marker, like English to.

• att vänta = to wait

So:

• Jag ber dig att vänta = I ask you to wait

It connects ber dig with the action vänta.

Yes, often it can.

Many speakers also say:

• Jag ber dig vänta här en minut.

That sounds natural too. With att, the sentence can sound a little more explicit or slightly more formal/careful, but both versions are common and correct.

Because after att, Swedish uses the infinitive.

• att vänta = to wait
• väntar = wait / is waiting in the present tense

So:

• Jag ber dig att vänta = I ask you to wait
• not Jag ber dig att väntar

If vänta were the main verb of the sentence in the present tense, then you would use väntar:

• Du väntar här. = You wait / are waiting here.

Because vänta can be used in two slightly different ways:

• vänta = wait
• vänta på = wait for

In this sentence, the idea is simply wait here, not wait for someone/something.

Compare:

• Vänta här en minut. = Wait here a minute.
• Vänta på bussen. = Wait for the bus.

So if no object like the bus, me, or your friend is mentioned, på is often not needed.

Swedish adverb order is fairly flexible, so both can be possible, but vänta här en minut is very natural.

The given order sounds like:

• first: where? — här
• then: how long? — en minut

So it feels like Wait here, for a minute.

You may also hear:

• Vänta en minut här

But that can sound slightly different in emphasis, as if en minut comes first in the speaker’s focus. The version in your sentence is a very normal, idiomatic order.

Not always.

Literally, yes, it means one minute, but in everyday speech it often means something like:

• a moment
• just a minute
• wait a second

So the speaker may not mean exactly 60 seconds. It is often just a natural way to ask someone to wait briefly.

It is polite, but it can sound a bit more formal, serious, or firm than the most everyday alternatives.

Compare:

• Jag ber dig att vänta här en minut. — polite, a little formal or emphatic
• Kan du vänta här en minut? — very common everyday request
• Vänta här en minut. — direct command

So Jag ber dig att vänta här en minut is not rude, but it may sound more deliberate than casual conversation usually does.

Only in the sense of request.

This is important because English ask covers two ideas, but Swedish usually separates them:

• be = ask/request
• fråga = ask a question

So:

• Jag ber dig att vänta. = I ask you to wait.
• Jag frågar dig något. = I ask you something.

That is why ber is used here, not frågar.

A rough everyday pronunciation might sound something like:

• ya behr dey a VEN-ta hehr en mi-NOOT

A few useful things to notice:

• jag is very often pronounced more like ja
• dig is often pronounced like dej
• att is often reduced in normal speech, sometimes almost just a short a
• vänta has the stress on the first syllable

So in relaxed speech, the whole sentence may sound smoother and less carefully pronounced than the spelling suggests.