ましょう Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Auxiliary verb ending
Essential Meaning: Let’s do X / I’ll do X / We’ll do X
Construction:
- Verb ます-Form + ましょう
- E.g. 話しましょう [Let’s speak / I will speak]
- E.g. 食べましょう [Let’s eat / I will speak]
Notes:
- ましょう is a very common polite volitional verb ending that expresses a volitional invitation (“Let’s do X“) or conveys one’s personal volition (“I will do X“). In invitational situations, the subject is typically omitted.
- E.g. Invitation: 行きましょう。[Let’s go.]
- E.g. Personal volition 私が彼に話しましょう。[I will talk to him.]
- In certain contexts, ましょう can be used to extend an invitation to help someone (i.e. “Let me do X for you” or “I’ll do X for you“).
- E.g. そのカバンを持ちましょう。[I’ll carry that bag.]
- E.g. 手伝いましょう。[I’ll help you.]
- By appending the interrogative particle か, the meaning of ましょう becomes clearly invitational (i.e. “Shall we do X?“). You can make an invitation even more polite by using a negative interrogative form.
- E.g. 行きましょうか。[Shall we go?]
- E.g. 行きませんか。[Wouldn’t you like to go?] This is extra polite.
- Negative volition (e.g. “I won’t do X“) is typically expressed through a simple nonpast verb ending or through special grammatical structures such as まいとおもう or つもり.
- E.g. 行きません。[I’m not going.]
- E.g. 行くまいとおもう。[I think that I will not go.]
- E.g. 行くつもりはない。[I don’t intend to go.]
- Invitational negative volition (e.g. “Let’s not do X“) can be expressed in a couple of ways:
- (1) Verb informal + のはやめましょう / よしましょう (i.e. “Let’s stop doing X“)
- E.g. パーティーに行くのはやめましょう。[Let’s not go to the party. (i.e. Let’s cancel the idea of going to the party).]
- E.g. パーティーに行くのはよしましょう。[Let’s not go to the party (Let’s cancel the idea of going to the party).]
- (2) Verb negative stem + ないでおきましょう (i.e. “Let’s leave X undone“)
- E.g. マークには言わないでおきましょう。[Let’s not tell Mark (i.e. Let’s leave the idea of telling Mark undone).]
- (1) Verb informal + のはやめましょう / よしましょう (i.e. “Let’s stop doing X“)
- In indirect volitional speech (e.g. when quoting someones volitional statement or when conveying hearsay about someone’s volition with verbs such as 思う [To think] or 言う [To say]), the informal volitional form is used (e.g. 見よう, rather than 見ましょう)
- E.g. 村田さんはコーヒーを飲もうと言った。[Murata-san said that we should go drink coffee.] In this example, the informal volitional form 飲もう is used.
- E.g. 私は来年日本へ行こうと思います。[I think I will go to Japan next year.] In this example, the informal volitional form 行こう is used.
- To express a future volition (e.g. “I will do X in the future“), ようと思う can be used.
- E.g. 私は映画を見ようと思う。[I think I will see a movie (in the future).]
Example Sentences:
私が彼に話しましょう。[I will talk to him.]
映画に行きましょう。[Let’s go to a movie.]
私たちが行きましょうか。[Shall we go?]
ビールを飲みましょう。[Let’s drink beer.]
車で行きましょうか。[Shall we go by car?]
WILD Examples:
***YouTube videos may be region-locked depending on your country of origin. If you experience issues, please try using a VPN set to a United States IP address.***