Japanese Volitional Form: One Verb, Five Ways to Push

The Japanese volitional form doesn't add a word for let's. It changes the tail of the verb instead, so 行くいく (iku), to go, becomes 行こういこう (ikou), let's go. One tail, and the invitation is already inside the verb.

That tail is the first of a short family. Keep the verb and swap the ending, and the same 行くいく (iku) asks someone to go, tells them to go, or shoves them out the door. Nothing else in the sentence has to move.

Two things change with every swap. Who does the going — you, the two of you, or the other person alone — and how hard the speaker leans on the listener. 行こういこう (ikou) pushes nobody, because you're the one moving. 行けいけ (ike) is all push.

One thing this isn't: a ninth basic form. A verb has eight of those, and the field note on verb conjugation keeps that grid of tense, negation and politeness. These endings sit beside the grid, and they don't say when — they say who, and how hard.

The Japanese volitional form is the plain-style let's, and it's the casual way to propose something on the spot. Plain means it stays among friends and colleagues of the same standing. Toward anyone senior, the polite ましょう (mashou) does the same job with the pressure taken off.

Say the morning has gone badly and you're the one who spots the gap:

資料が足りないから、もう一度作り直そうしりょうがたりないから、もういちどつくりなおそう (shiryougatarinaikara,mouichidotsukurinaosou)

We're short on materials, so let's redo them.

Notice that the speaker is inside the plan. The volitional puts the doing on you, or on you and the people around you, and it doesn't have to reach across the table at all. That's why the same form works when you're alone and talking to yourself — a decision with nobody on the other end.

Here's 行くいく (iku) wearing all five tails, from no push to all push.

Building the volitional depends on the verb group, and there are only three cases. A godan verb, or u-verb, turns its last う (u) sound into the お (o) row and adds う (u): 行くいく (iku) becomes 行こういこう (ikou), and 話すはなす (hanasu) becomes 話そうはなそう (hanasou). An ichidan verb, or ru-verb, loses its る (ru) and takes よう (you) instead: 寝るねる (neru) becomes 寝ようねよう (neyou).

The two irregulars you simply learn as words. する (suru) becomes しよう (shiyou), and 来るくる (kuru) becomes 来ようこよう (koyou) — the kanji is the same, but the reading is こ (ko), not the き (ki) of 来ますきます (kimasu). Which group a verb falls into is settled in the field note on verb conjugation.

The command sits one row over. Put the two side by side and the whole trick is visible in four verbs.

The right column is the bare command — the shove at the bottom of the first table. A u-verb moves the same final sound to the え (e) row with nothing added, so お (o) row plus う (u) is the let's and the え (e) row alone is the push. A ru-verb trades よう (you) for ろ (ro). The two irregulars are しろ (shiro) and 来いこい (koi), with こ (ko) again.

The first slip isn't in the making. It's in the room. Nothing is grammatically broken in the line below, but the bare volitional is the casual register, and proposing anything to a teacher calls for ましょう (mashou):

❌ 先生、そろそろ出かけようせんせい、そろそろでかけよう (sensei,sorosorodekakeyou)

⭕ 先生、そろそろ出かけましょうせんせい、そろそろでかけましょう (sensei,sorosorodekakemashou)

ましょう (mashou) is the volitional dressed politely, and that one change turns a private decision into a pull. Drop ます (masu) from the polite form and add ましょう (mashou) in its place: 始めますはじめます (hajimemasu) becomes 始めましょうはじめましょう (hajimemashou). Now the doing belongs to you and the listener together, and the politeness means you can say it to anyone in the room.

Say a friend is fumbling with a camera in front of the temple gate:

写真を撮りましょうかしゃしんをとりましょうか (shashinwotorimashouka)

Shall I take a photo?

Add か (ka) and the pull loosens. ましょうか (mashouka) does two jobs, and the situation picks which. When only you can do the thing, it offers your help — 手伝いましょうかてつだいましょうか (tetsudaimashouka), an offer to do it yourself. When the thing belongs to the whole group, it gives the decision back to everyone — 何にしましょうかなににしましょうか (naninishimashouka), a question for the table to answer.

ませんか (masenka) pulls the least of the three. Won't you come along leaves the listener somewhere to stand, so it's the shape for a first invitation, while ましょう (mashou) assumes they're already on board. How to turn one down gracefully is its own field note, on saying no in Japanese.

Say you've been meaning to ask a neighbor to the river for weeks:

週末、川へ行きませんかしゅうまつ、かわへいきませんか (shuumatsu,kawaheikimasenka)

Won't you come to the river this weekend?

Add と思いますとおもいます (toomoimasu) to the volitional and the pull turns around. Nobody is being invited now. You're telling someone what you've just decided to do, and the ます (masu) at the end raises the politeness, so the sentence is fine in front of a manager even though the よう (you) inside it is plain.

Say the overtime has just been settled and a colleague asks about the report:

報告書は今夜、仕上げようと思いますほうこくしょはこんや、しあげようとおもいます (houkokushohakon'ya,shiageyoutoomoimasu)

I'm going to get the report finished tonight.

と思っていますとおもっています (toomotteimasu) is the same thought held longer. The plain と思いますとおもいます (toomoimasu) reports a decision reached this moment; the ています (teimasu) version says you've been holding the idea for a while, and it's also the only one of the two that can describe somebody else's intention. A colleague's plan to study abroad takes と思っていますとおもっています (toomotteimasu), because a decision reached inside another person's head isn't yours to report.

Next to つもり (tsumori), which states a plan you settled on some time ago, both sound softer and less fixed.

てください (tekudasai) is the first tail that passes the doing entirely to the other person. Take the て (te) form of a verb and add ください (kudasai): 止めるとめる (tomeru) becomes 止めてくださいとめてください (tometekudasai). It's polite, it asks rather than tells, and the same words serve a favor to a friend and a firm instruction on a station sign. What ください (kudasai) does on its own, and how it differs from お願いしますおねがいします (onegaishimasu), is the business of the field note on onegaishimasu and kudasai.

Say you're handing your phone to a stranger in front of the shrine:

写真を撮ってくださいしゃしんをとってください (shashinwotottekudasai)

Please take a photo.

One request runs the other way. させてください (sasetekudasai) asks the listener to let you be the one who does it, and that shape lives with the causative in the field note on the potential form.

なさい (nasai) pushes from above, and it's still warm. It attaches to the ます (masu) stem — 座りますすわります (suwarimasu) gives 座りなさいすわりなさい (suwarinasai), します (shimasu) gives しなさい (shinasai), and 来ますきます (kimasu) gives 来なさいきなさい (kinasai), keeping the き (ki) reading this time. The form takes its authority from whoever uses it: a parent to a child, a teacher at the classroom door, a test paper telling you to 選びなさいえらびなさい (erabinasai). Between adults of equal standing it isn't on the menu, and you'll hear it far more often than you say it.

Say a child is tearing down the hallway of a quiet house:

走らないで、静かに歩きなさいはしらないで、しずかにあるきなさい (hashiranaide,shizukaniarukinasai)

Don't run — walk quietly.

Two edges to know. There's no negative なさい (nasai); to stop an action you use the ordinary ないで (naide), and as the example above shows, it pairs comfortably with a positive なさい (nasai) in the same breath. And pointed at a customer, the form flips who's in charge, which is why staff say ください (kudasai):

❌ お客様、こちらでお待ちなさいおきゃくさま、こちらでおまちなさい (okyakusama,kochiradeomachinasai)

⭕ お客様、こちらでお待ちくださいおきゃくさま、こちらでおまちください (okyakusama,kochiradeomachikudasai)

The Japanese imperative form is one push blunter than なさい (nasai), with the warmth gone. 待てまて (mate), wait. 座れすわれ (suware), sit. A u-verb moves its final sound to the え (e) row, a ru-verb swaps る (ru) for ろ (ro), and the two irregulars are しろ (shiro) and 来いこい (koi) — the right column of the second table above.

The prohibition is even simpler. Put な (na) after the plain form and the verb says don't: 入るなはいるな (hairuna), keep out. No stem, no row change.

Where you meet these is the useful part. They fill signs, sports fields and subtitles — the coach across the field, the warning at the top of a cliff path, the line a hero shouts before the credits. Read them fluently. In your own speech, there's no moment that calls for them, because every real situation already has a tail from the rows above.

Say the subtitles are keeping up with a chase on screen:

待て、まだ行くなまて、まだいくな (mate,madaikuna)

Wait. Don't go yet.

Notice that 行くないくな (ikuna) is the same 行くいく (iku) from the first table with one syllable attached. Five pushes, one verb, and the shove is only the shortest of them.

Let's go in Japanese is 行こういこう (ikou) among friends and 行きましょういきましょう (ikimashou) with anyone else, and the choice is the whole of this note in one verb. Ask who's going, then ask how much you're leaning on them.

Say the train has pulled in and you're the one nearest the door:

電車が来た。行こうでんしゃがきた。いこう (denshagakita.ikou)

The train's here. Let's go.

Change the room and the tail changes with it. With a manager or a customer, 行きましょういきましょう (ikimashou) keeps you inside the plan and adds the politeness. When you'd rather they chose, 行きませんかいきませんか (ikimasenka) pulls the least of all and leaves them room to say no. 行きなさいいきなさい (ikinasai) is a parent at the door, and 行けいけ (ike) is the coach — or the subtitle — with nothing left to soften.

These five tails are spread across the N5 and N4 lists, and the field notes on those two lists show where each one sits among its neighbors.

So: one verb, five tails, five degrees of push. The volitional pushes nobody, because you're the one moving. ましょう (mashou) pulls the others alongside. てください (tekudasai) pushes politely, なさい (nasai) pushes from above, and the bare command shoves. Who does it, and how hard you lean — the tail answers both before the sentence is over.

Which tail are you reaching for? Ask who's moving first, and the push takes care of itself.

By group. A godan verb (u-verb) moves its last う (u) sound onto the お (o) row and adds う (u), so 行くいく (iku) gives 行こういこう (ikou) and 話すはなす (hanasu) gives 話そうはなそう (hanasou). An ichidan verb (ru-verb) drops る (ru) and adds よう (you), so 寝るねる (neru) gives 寝ようねよう (neyou). する (suru) gives しよう (shiyou), and 来るくる (kuru) gives 来ようこよう (koyou), read with こ (ko). The polite version takes the ます (masu) stem plus ましょう (mashou): 行きましょういきましょう (ikimashou).

Politeness, and with it, who you can say it to. 行こういこう (ikou) is the plain form, at home among friends and in your own head. 行きましょういきましょう (ikimashou) is the same form dressed politely, so it works toward a manager or a stranger, and it assumes the listener is coming along. That's also why an invitation and a private resolution look so alike in Japanese — context decides whether you're pulling someone with you or committing yourself.

It's blunt, and it belongs to particular places rather than to conversation. 待てまて (mate) and 座れすわれ (suware) fill signs, sports fields and subtitles, where the bluntness is the point. Spoken to a colleague or a stranger, the same words land as a shove, so the working advice is to read them fluently and to reach for てください (tekudasai) or なさい (nasai) when you're the one speaking. A reader of fiction meets the form constantly; a speaker rarely needs it.

行こういこう (ikou) when it's casual and 行きましょういきましょう (ikimashou) when it's polite. Both come from 行くいく (iku), to go — the first is the plain volitional, the second is the same form on the polite ます (masu) stem. If you'd rather leave the other person a choice, 行きませんかいきませんか (ikimasenka), won't you go, pulls more gently than either.

なさい (nasai) is an order given by someone entitled to give it — a parent to a child, a teacher to a student, a test paper to whoever is sitting it. It attaches to the ます (masu) stem, so 行きますいきます (ikimasu) becomes 行きなさいいきなさい (ikinasai). It has no negative of its own; ないで (naide) stops an action instead. Aimed at a customer or a senior it reverses who's in charge, which is why staff use ください (kudasai).

Ukiyoe Japanese keeps two concept lessons on this ground — the volitional form with と思いますとおもいます (toomoimasu), and なさい (nasai) — each showing how every group builds the tail, with example sentences and the slips that happen first. The next よう (you) you meet on a sign or in a subtitle then has a row to belong to.

The making lives in a drill. The Conjugation gym gives you 行くいく (iku) and asks for the volitional, then waits for you to type 行こういこう (ikou) yourself. Miss, and it names the row you reached for. One verb, five tails, and somewhere to practice the one that pushes nobody.