～よう・～ましょう

RuleVerb volitional (~you/~ou, polite ~mashou): expresses will or invitation, "let's / I will."

Curiosity

You learned the polite "let's (~mashou)." How do you say the casual "let's go" to a friend?

Intuition

The volitional voices an inner resolve: "I'll / let's." Politely you add mashou to the masu-stem; plainly you reshape the verb itself into the volitional.

Visualization

iku (dictionary) → ikou (volitional: let's go). Shift the u-row to the o-row and add u.

行くdictionary form

Essence

Ichidan: ~ru → ~you (taberu → tabeyou). Godan: shift the u-row to the o-row + u (iku → ikou, nomu → nomou). Irregular: suru → shiyou, kuru → koyou. ~you to omou means "I am thinking of doing" (a plan).

Examples

週末、一緒に映画を見よう。

Let's watch a movie together this weekend.

そろそろ会議を始めましょう。

Let's start the meeting soon.

来年、留学しようと思っている。

I am thinking of studying abroad next year.

Mini-quiz

What is the volitional of "nomu" (to drink)?