Tone and context will determine if this is a friendly request or a polite but firm order. If the word så vanishes from the phrase, it is almost always an order: Vær snill og sett fra deg bagen her. Kindly leave your bag here. When what you’re really doing is giving an order, you may also use vennlig which translates as friendly, or kindly, instead of snill: Vær vennlig og flytt bilen. Vær vennlig og hold passet klart.
Kindly move your car. Please have your passport ready.
Written signs will often use this form. The phrase has so far perhaps not seemed that different from please, despite the grammatical intricacies. However, on several occasions when an English speaker would use please, a Norwegian would not use Vær så snill, but some other polite form. It is not natural to use Vær så snill when you buy a beer or a cup of coffee, or when you buy a ticket to the cinema or opera. In these situations, Norwegians use specific verbs and adverbs in order to make the request a polite one, as has been explained above, with gjerne and takk being the key words to remember. It’s also not usually appropriate to respond to offers and questions with Vær så snill; Norwegians use takk instead, when English speakers would use please as we have seen in the section on takk above: Vil du ha en kake til? Ja takk. / Nei takk.
Would you like another slice of cake? Yes please. / No thanks.
Trenger du hjelp? Ja takk. / Nei takk.
Do you need help? Yes please. / No thanks.
Unnskyld can also be used in much the same way as please: Unnskyld, kan du forklare dette? Unnskyld, kan du hjelpe meg med denne kofferten?
Excuse me, could you explain this? Excuse me, could you help me with this suitcase?
1.4 Apologising You have just seen above that the word unnskyld can be used in polite requests. It may also be used as an opening gambit when talking to someone. Essentially, you’re apologising for inconveniencing someone, just as in the English excuse me: Unnskyld, er det mulig å … Unnskyld, kan du hjelpe meg med dette skjemaet?
Excuse me, is it possible to … Excuse me, could you help me with this form? 15