Breakdown of Skulle du vara så vänlig att öppna dörren?
vara
to be
du
you (singular)
att
to (before a verb)
dörren
the door
öppna
to open
så
so
skulle
would
vänlig
kind
Questions & Answers about Skulle du vara så vänlig att öppna dörren?
How does skulle work here to make this a polite request?
Skulle is the past tense of ska (will), but in this context, it translates to "would". Just like in English, using "would" instead of "will" or "can" creates a conditional sentence that makes the request sound much softer and more polite. Because skulle is an auxiliary (helper) verb, the next verb vara (to be) must be in its infinitive form.
The English translation says "as to open". Where is the word for "as" in the Swedish sentence?
Swedish doesn't use a word for "as" in this expression. The phrase vara så vänlig att literally translates to "be so kind to". The word att simply acts as the infinitive marker (just like "to" in English) right before the verb öppna.
Could I use snäll instead of vänlig for the word "kind"?
Yes, you can! Vänlig (friendly/kind) sounds a bit more formal, which perfectly matches the highly polite Skulle du... structure of this sentence. Snäll (kind/nice) is also extremely common in everyday requests.
I've sometimes seen sentences like this use och (and) instead of att (to). Which is correct?
Both are correct, but they tend to pair with different adjectives! With vänlig, it is most natural to use att + infinitive (så vänlig att öppna). However, if you use the slightly more casual word snäll, Swedes very often use och instead, saying vara så snäll och öppna (literally: "be so kind and open").
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