student asking question

Would the sentence mean the same if I replace "we" with "you"? What is the difference in nuance between "can we..." and "can you..." here?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"We" is being used here to give off a feeling of collaboration. Additionally, it's more polite to use "we" instead of "you" when giving commands or making requests. Ex: Can we please stop goofing off and concentrate? Ex: Can we hurry a little, please? I'm in a rush.

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