Contents hide
1 Introduction to volitional form (Let’s do something)
2 How to say ‘Let’s do something’?
2.1 Formal way
2.2 Informal form

Introduction to volitional form (Let’s do something)

When you want to suggest an activity in English you can say ‘let’s do ….’ or ‘shall we do …’. In Japanese, you have a completely different verb conjugation for this called the volitional form. As you are used in Japanese verb conjugations there is a formal and informal way of saying this. 

How to say ‘Let’s do something’?

Formal way

So you already know how to conjugate the formal version of a verb (if not, recap here). To transform this ます form into a suggestion you change it to ましょう or ましょうか with the question particle か. That’s not too hard right? Let’s look at some examples:

  このきじをよみましょ  
  Let’s read this article  
       
  えいがをみましょか  
  Shall we see a movie?  
       
  にほんにいきましょ  
  Let’s go to Japan  
       
  はじめましょう  
  Let’s begin  
       
  この = This …  
  きじ = Article  
  よむ = To read  
  えいが = Movie  
  みる = To see  
  にほん = Japan  
  いく = To go  
  はじめる = To begin  

Informal form

The informal form is somewhat more difficult, but used much more among friends. 

  る verbs  drop the る and add よう  
  う verbs  drop the う and add おう  
  Irregular: くる = こよう  
  Irregular: する = しよう  

So in practice, this leads to this

  たべる = たべよう  
  あう = あおう  
  たつ = たとう  
  かえる = かえろう  
  のむ = のもう  
  しぬ = しのう  
  とぶ = とぼう  
  いく = いこう  
  およぐ = およごう  

So, for some more examples:

  こんばんはいしょうにばんごはんをたべよう  
  Let’s eat dinner together tonight  
       
  Person A: どこにいきますか  
  Person B: ゆうぎじょうにいきましょうか  
  Person A: はい, いこう!  
  Person A: Where shall we go?   
  Person B: Shall we go to the game hall?  
  Person A:  Yes, let’s go!  
     
  Person A: なにをしましょうか  
  Person B: サーカーをしよう  
  Person A: What shall we do?  
  Person B:Let’s play soccer  
     
  Person A: はなびがある  
  Person B: みよう!  
  Person A: There are fireworks  
  Person B: Let’s look!  
     
   にほんではなしましょう  
  Let’s speak Japanese  
     
  にほんのぶんぽのほんおをかおう  
  Let’s buy a Japanese grammar book