Question

17 January

Japanese

English (US)

Question about English (US)

If I say "can you be quiet?", do you feel pressured or offended or I am a bit aggressive?

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Answers

FT43

17 January

English (US)

It can be aggressive, but it depends entirely on your tone and context. It's a little tricky. It wouldn't be considered rude if it was really important to stay quiet, like if someone needs to focus on something, or someone is trying to sleep for example.

To mitigate the chances of sounding rude just add a "please" in the sentence!

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rtizisland

17 January

English (US)

Yeah, it sounds pretty rude in my opinion. I would only say that to someone if they were being really disruptive

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Pixel64

17 January

English (US)

A little bit. If you want to avoid this, you can just say "shh."

Also, you can soften your tone if you say something like: "Hey guys, can you bring it down a little bit? Thanks."

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Anivia

17 January

English (US)

Yeah, it does sound pretty rude.

Asking others to be quiet politely can be a little tricky. What kind of situation are you thinking of?

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i_love_steak

17 January

Japanese

@Anivia
At the end of last semester, during an algebra class, my professor said like that to us and everyone suddenly became quiet.

At that day, we were returned a exam marked, and that was actually last class. Because of this, I guess, everyone was really loud, talking with each other. I was seated in a front raw and didn’t join the conversation, but I remember it was loud at the back of classroom. This is a situation I remember, and it made me wonder if it is aggressive if I say "can you be quiet ?" like my professor.

And also I imagined a situation that I would like others to keep quiet like in a study room.

Pixel64

17 January

English (US)

@i_love_steak For the first situation, you can remind them like this: "Guys, be quiet. The teacher will be mad if s/he hears you." Or you can just let them get scolded haha

For the second situation, you could say: "Can you guys please quiet down a bit? Thanks." Adding "please" and "thanks" makes it sound a lot less standoffish.

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i_love_steak

19 January

Japanese

Thank you all!!

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If I say "can you be quiet?", do you feel pressured or offended or I am a bit aggressive? See a translation

Yeah, it sounds pretty rude in my opinion. I would only say that to someone if they were being really disruptive

A little bit. If you want to avoid this, you can just say "shh."Also, you can soften your tone if you say something like: "Hey guys, can you bring it down a little bit? Thanks."

Yeah, it does sound pretty rude.Asking others to be quiet politely can be a little tricky. What kind of situation are you thinking of?

If I say "can you be quiet?", do you feel pressured or offended or I am a bit aggressive?

See a translation

A little bit. If you want to avoid this, you can just say "shh."

Also, you can soften your tone if you say something like: "Hey guys, can you bring it down a little bit? Thanks."

Yeah, it does sound pretty rude.

Asking others to be quiet politely can be a little tricky. What kind of situation are you thinking of?