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Let's A (together)
Can mean "I'll A" when the subject is 1st person such as /わたし
  1. Let's A (together)
    Can mean "I'll A" when the subject is 1st person such as /わたし
  2. Shall I/we A?
        
Let's try riding them!
50
おはよう !             
Good morning! Let's eat breakfast together!
45
           
Let's meet in front of the station.
4
この CD                  
This CD is good! Let's listen (to it) together.
6
               
Alright, let's go on a drive!
12
   カレー         
Let's make curry for dinner.

Getting the sentences
List
ませんか
ましょう
ましょうか
In this lesson, we will look at a few different ways to invite someone to do something with us.
~ませんか
おちゃ のみませんか
いちじ ひるごはん たべませんか
としょかん ほん よみませんか
The first kind of invitation we will look at is the most polite, and uses the negative verb ending ません that we already learned, plus the question particle か.
The first kind of invitation we will look at is the most polite, and uses the negative verb ending ません that we already learned, plus the question particle か.
This is kind of similar to the phrase “won’t you…?” in English. For example, the Alphabet Song ends with the line “next time won’t you sing with me?”
You can use all the particles we have already learned in your invitation as well to make them as specific as you want.
This would be “Would you like to have some tea?”
This would be “Would you like to have lunch at 1:00?”
And this would be “Would you like to read books at the library?”
~ましょう
~ましょうか
およぎましょう
およぎましょうか
テニス ましょう
さん いきましょうか
しゃしん とりましょうか
The next type of invitation we will look at is still polite, but not quite as formal as ませんか. This uses a new variation on the ます form, ましょう. You can also add the question particle か to the end.
The next type of invitation we will look at is still polite, but not quite as formal as ませんか. This uses a new variation on the ます form, ましょう. You can also add the question particle か to the end.
You will conjugate this form the same way you would any polite verb, but you will end with ましょう instead of ます or ません.
Using ましょう more closely aligns with the English phrase “Let’s …”, while ましょうか is more like “Shall we…?”
So およぎましょう would be “Let’s swim!”, while およぎましょうか would be “Shall we swim?”
Just like with our other invitations, you can use ましょう and ましょうか with all the other particles we have learned.
So this would be “Let’s play tennis!”
And this would be “Shall we go at 3:00?”
You can also use ましょうか to offer assistance.
For example, if you are offering to take a photo of someone, you can say しゃしんをとりましょうか, which you can translate as either “Shall I take a photo (of you)?” or “Would you like me to take a photo?”
To recap, the suffix ませんか can be used for polite invitations.
To recap, the suffix ませんか can be used for polite invitations.
ましょう is the most casual, and is closer to “Let's ..”, and ましょうか (“Shall we ..”) falls in the middle.
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
AVerb: Stem
ましょう
Basic Examples:
きましょう (let's go)

Related Expressions
ませんか
Volitional/意志
Where this grammar is found


User notes
 
Shall I/we A?
  1. Let's A (together)
    Can mean "I'll A" when the subject is 1st person such as /わたし
  2. Shall I/we A?
7
            
Hey, shall we go together?
6
    いやなら             
If you don't like crowds, why don't we go to the park?

Getting the sentences
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
AVerb: Stem
ましょうか
Basic Examples:
りましょう (Shall we dance?)

Related Expressions
ませんか
Volitional/意志
Where this grammar is found


User notes

Discussion about this grammar
avatar
Level: 1
I tried searching for a ましょうか pattern, but there doesn't seem to be a separate entry. ましょうか, as I'm sure you know, has a slightly different meaning than just "Let's X"; could be translated as "Shall I/we X?"
2
14 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 256
Done!
1
14 years ago
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モモ
Level: 1
Can the Volitional Short Form be added to "similar grammar"?
0
13 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 256
Yep! You can actually click the 'add related' link near the top to suggest similar grammars; I'll see any suggestions and add ones that make sense! (I'll go ahead and do this one)
0
13 years ago
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Level:
This might be intentional, but I noticed that if you don't select a meaning from the pull-down menu, the page just reloads when you try to submit (without adding your sentence, of course) and your sentence disappears. There isn't an error message or anything, so it took me a minute to realize what was going on. Maybe something could be shown at the top to help clueless users like me realize their error?
1
12 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 256
This will be fixed shortly, thanks for pointing it out!
0
12 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 256
This is now fixed in renshuu beta.
0
12 years ago
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Level:
Thanks, appreciate the quick fix!
0
12 years ago
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|マルコ|
Level: 110

I think "I/We will do A" should be added to the meaning 1, example:

しましょう。
I will talk to him.

0
2 years ago
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マイコー
Level: 256

Adjusted the secondary meaning somewhat!

1
2 years ago
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