Let’s Learn Let’s!
“Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.” – Tim Ferriss
The grammar for “let’s” isn’t particularly difficult (as long as you’ve been keeping up with things). That’s good, because we’re trying to review a bit here. The great thing about “let’s” is that it works so well with so many things you’ve already learned up to this point, which makes it perfect for a lesson that only has a little bit to learn and lot to review.
The first thing you need to learn is “Let’s” – put this in your mind:
〜ましょう
Alright, got ましょう in your head? Let’s see where it goes. Do you remember ます form for verbs? The very first verb type you learned? Yeah? So, if you look at ましょう, where do you think ましょう would go on a ます verb?
たべます → たべ → たべましょう
There’s a couple ways to look at this, both coming out to the same result. You could go to stem form (たべ) and add ましょう to it. Or, you could take any ます form verb down to its ま and add ましょう. Either way, you can see where it connects… just overlap the ま in ましょう and the ま in ます and you’ll have yourself a ましょう verb. Let’s take a look at a few verbs to get the hang of this and just this. Try to convert these ます form verbs into ましょう form verbs.
たべます → たべましょう
行きます
a 行きましょう
あそびます
a あそびましょう
のみます
a のみましょう
たちます
a 立ちましょう
かえります
a かえりましょう
いそぎます
a いそぎましょう
Awesome, that’s not too bad, is it? Make sure you know the meanings of those verb as well. Now let’s look at dictionary form verbs. Can you turn these to ましょう verbs as well? It’s really pretty simple, as long as you can convert the verbs correctly back to ます form!
かう → かいましょう
入る
a 入りましょう
はたらく
a はたらきましょう
きる
a きましょう
すわる
a すわりましょう
見る
a 見ましょう
Make sure you know the meanings of the above verbs (as well as the ましょう versions) before you move on. Once you’ve got the conversion process down, let’s take a look at some of these in actual (but simple!) sentences.