In today's article, we'll get to know the mashou form of Japanese verbs. A verb conjugation that I have used several times on this site.
It is a very common expression in the Japanese language and is often used to make invitations or suggestions.
Despite not being directly linked to the future tense, the mashou form of Japanese verbs can be considered another type of potential form of japanese verbs or tai shape. Most importantly, the form mashou (ましょう) can be translated as a “let's go”, indicating an invitation or suggestion.
Conjugating Japanese Verbs in Mashou Form
Like many other verb conjugations, the form mashou can be used in both the formal mood (the masu form of verbs in japanese), and in the informal mode (the dictionary form of japanese verbs). Following this line of thought, we will have two verb conjugations for each Japanese verb group.
Conjugating Verbs in the Informal Mood (Dictionary Form)
As the conjugation of verbs in the informal mode has a greater number of rules, let's start with it. Right?
Group of verbs ending in “u”
To conjugate verbs ending in う in the informal mode of the mashou form, it is enough to change the last syllable of the verb ending in “u” for the syllable of the same family of hiragana ending in “o”, adding the vowel う in the end.
買う will come 買おう
待つ will come 待とう
飲む will come 飲もう
話す will come 話そう
Group of verbs ending in iru or eru
This group of verbs is the easiest to conjugate. Just change the ending る dust よう, to put Japanese verbs in the mashou form.
見る will come 見よう
食べる will come 食べよう
信じる will come 信じよう
Irregular verb group
As always, there is no verb conjugation rule for this group. So, we'll have to learn the hard way. Below is the conjugation of the two main irregular verbs in Japanese.
する will come しょう
来る will come 来よう
Conjugating verbs in the formal mood
This is the easiest part of the mashou form. To conjugate Japanese verbs in this new mode, we'll need to remember how to conjugate japanese verbs in masu form.
First let's conjugate the verbs in the ます form. Then let's change the last syllable す to しょう. As this is a general rule, it can be used in all the japanese verb groups.
見る will come見ます and then turns見ましょう
食べる will come食べます and then turns食べましょう
買う will come買います and then turns買いましょう
飲む will come飲みます and then turns飲みましょう
信じる will come信じます and then turns信じましょう
As there is no rule for irregular verbs, we will have to learn to conjugate them using our experience with the Japanese language. But to make it easier, I'll leave the conjugation of the two main irregular verbs.
する will comeします and then turnsしましょう
来る will come 来ます and then turns来ましょう
How to use the mashou form of Japanese verbs
There is no difference between using Japanese verbs in the mashou form and the other verb forms. In Japanese, just add the verb at the end of sentences for everything to work correctly.
Note the sentences below:
私と田中ちゃんはブラジルへ行きましょう。
ケーキを食べましょうか？
新しい車を買おう。
Watch below a video talking more about the mashou form of Japanese verbs:
Kanji calligraphy exercise
Below are the Japanese ideographic symbols used in this article. Selecting the desired kanji, copy and paste them into Worksheet for Kana and Kanji Practice , a new window will open where you can view the printable file and practice Japanese calligraphy by covering the gray symbols and then trying to write yourself. Just print and practice.
| 新 | 車 | 買 | 食 | 行 |
| 見 | 私 | 待 | 飲 | 話 |
| 信 | 来 | 田 | 中 |