I am not sure how "Var vänlig och" means "please".

I am not sure how “Var vänlig och” means “please”. Could you use “Vänligen” instead?

“Var vänlig och” → literally means “be kind and”; it is a courteous way of making a request and given that there is no word for please in Swedish it is used to mean “please.”
You could translate in your head as: “please be so kind as to”, if you wish, as a means of getting to grips with its meaning as “please”
vänlig → friendly, kind, amicable
vänligen is also used to be courteous, and also means “please”
If you notice, you will see that both words are made up of “vänlig” which means friendly, the second one has a suffix “-en” at the end.

To answer to your question, yes you can!

Here are some examples:
Vänligen kontakta mig angående detta → Please contact me regarding this.
Var vänlig och kontakta mig angående detta —> Please contact me regarding this.

Swedish doesn’t necessarily use please at all when giving instructions

For example:
Ange ett annat kontonummer —> Specify another account number
Vänligen ange ett annat kontonummer → Please specify another account number

Both are fine in Swedish and one would not be seen as more abrupt than the other.

By the way, kids often say: “snälla” as a way of saying “please” too.

Adults do too as it happens, “snälla” is an informal way of saying “please”, whereas “vänligen” and “var vänlig och” happen to be more formal.

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Betyder det, det bara barnen sager “är du snäll”?
Till exempel: Är du snäll att ge mig bröd?

Thank you Maria! :slight_smile:

“Är du snäll och ger mig brödet” går också :wink:

Vuxna använder ordet också men det är något informellt.

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You are welcome Michael! Glad to have been of help :wink:

Ge mig brödet är du snäll.

Jo, det går också!

och…
vill du vara snäll och räcka mig brödet

“Kan du ge mej brödet” Can you say if you are with your family. Swedish is not so polite as English.