Volitional & -ましょう
 

From the other threads, I just learned more about verbs! 皆さんありがとう！

Here is a little question I have:
Volitional verb means "Intend to do" or "let's"
For example,
遊ぶ -》遊ぼう
話す -》話そう

It seems that
私と遊ぼう & 私と遊びましょう
are the same except that the latter one is in "polite form"

Am I correct?

Grammatically, yes. You might, however, want to know that there is a form we native speakers would use more often than those.

Replace 私と with　一緒に（いっしょに） and you will sound way more natural. 　一緒に means 'together'.

Nagoyankeeさん you are really nice! You always help me out in here :)

For native speakers, which one do they say more often?
一緒に遊ぼう
一緒に遊びましょう
(I don't know why, but it's more comfortable for me to say 遊びましょう)

It depends on who they're talking too. If they're speaking to a close friend or family member, for example, they would say　遊ぼう。But if it were to someone in a less intimate relationship (like someone they've just met), they would say 遊びましょう。　

It would largely depend on how old the speaker is. Ｋids and young adults would choose the first one. Older ones would probably go with the second one.

I need to add, however, that '遊ぶ' may not be the best verb for these patticular sample sentences because mostly kids use it in the first place in Japanese.

Had we used something like '行く', what I said in my first paragraph would have been of more practical use.

hmm...
like 行こう & 行きましょう？

Yes. It's just that Japanese adults don't say 遊びましょう often. You may not have known that we don't use the verb 遊ぶ when you would say in your language "play games" or "play sports". This is why I had to mention what I mentioned. It has nothing to do with grammar. none. :)

This reminds me of a question I had...

In kansai-ben, instead of darou, they say yarou... so does the way of saying 「そうやろう」 make it have a different meaning? It could mean both "Let's do that" and "isn't that the case?"... right?

hm... 'coz 遊ぶ is more childish? :confused:

For adults you guys say 「やろう」 or 「やります」 (やる. Do it) ???
If you wanna say "Let's play sports" or "Let's play video games" what would you say?

It's because 遊ぶ doesn't take a direct object. It's sort of more like "have fun."

You can't say, "Let's have fun a video game" in English. It's sort of the same kind of thing. However, you can say, "Let's play a video game." Japanese just doesn't use "play" when it comes to a video game. They basically say, "Let's do a video game."

Let's play sports = 「スポーツをやりましょう/やろう」
Let's play video games = 「ゲームをやりましょう/やろう」

I wouldn't call 遊ぶ more childish. I'm only saying that you won't hear adults saying to each other 遊ぼう or 遊びましょう too often. If I were to invite another adult to go play softball or a video game, I would definitely say しましょう. (the base verb is する). It's completely wrong to say ソフトボールを遊ぶ or ビデオゲームを遊ぶ. That is why we don't use 遊ぶ when we omit the object. We say ソフトボールをする or ゲームをする. You will also hear やろう or　やりましょう. I will never use the verb 遊ぶ in these cases.

Children use the word 遊ぶ more often because they live to play. They ask each other in school 「今日遊べる？」, meaning "Can we play together after school today?" In this case, 遊ぶ only means "to hang around with someone". You don't have to know exactly what you want to do at the time you ask someone, 「今日遊べる？」. Kids play by ear once they gather in the park.

Adults are different. If I asked a lady collegue, 「今日遊べる？」around 4:00 pm, I'll get a slap or a choice word......most likely both. I could get sued if I were in North America for saying it.



　

　

Thanks again~ Now I know how to reply if someone asks me 「遊べる？」... instead of replying him innocently、I will slap him instead ;) (just joking)

Yes I know する、like 仕事をする、ゲーム-をする..... etc etc
but in what case can I use やる instead? (I know やりましょう = Let's do it)

Good question.

As a female, you need to be careful with やる and やりましょう for two reasons.

1. It's basically, if not entirely, masculine speech. You can use the verb once in a while. But PLEASE don't use it repeatedly without an object to precede. You won't look too good if you do.

2. One meaning of やる is ..... no, I'm too shy to say the four-letter word. You will hear a beep if it was said on TV.　:o

Whenever possible, choose する over やる. But even with する, don't use it repeatedly without an object (仕事を、宿題を、ゲームを, etc.) because it can also mean the same four-letter word only in a softer way.

Or stabbed? Sorry, I had to bring it up. :p

Excellent! Around 0:33, it explains what we are just talking about.

I hope you weren't watching that with anyone around you! I can because no one within at least a mile radius of here can speak Japanese. :D

Are there any other words, that from an English standpoint would be ok, but when translated literally into Japanese one would get a less than desirable response?