Inviting and making plans in Japanese

Level A1

Inviting and making plans in Japanese

By the end of this lesson you can invite someone, accept, agree on a day and say no politely. The central idea is this: ませんか (masen ka) looks like a negative question, but when you offer someone an action it is an invitation that leaves the answer to them, and ましょう (mashō), “let's”, is the next step, once the plan is shared. So カフェに行きませんか (kafe ni ikimasen ka), “Why don't we go to a café?”, can get the reply いいですね。行きましょう (ii desu ne. ikimashō), “Sounds good. Let's go.” いつ行きますか (itsu ikimasu ka) then settles when, and ちょっと… (chotto…) declines without finishing the sentence.

Warm-up: what you'll reuse

These pieces come back in this lesson, even if this is the first time you see them. 行きます (ikimasu) means “go”, and に (ni) marks the destination: 駅に行きます (eki ni ikimasu), “I'm going to the station”. か (ka) at the end makes a question: 明日行きますか (ashita ikimasu ka), “Are you going tomorrow?”. ません (masen) makes the verb negative: 明日は行きません (ashita wa ikimasen), “I'm not going tomorrow”. Keep ません and か in mind: the next step joins them.

Four words for making plans

カフェ (kafe) is “café” and コーヒー (kōhī) is “coffee”. 土曜日 (doyōbi) is “Saturday”, one of the seven days that end in 曜日 (yōbi). いつ (itsu) asks “when”.

Two colleagues plan a café visit

Listen once without reading. One colleague invites with ませんか and the other accepts. The first day proposed does not work, so the answer stops at ちょっと… (chotto…), “a bit…”, and they find another day. そうですか (sō desu ka) means “I see”, and じゃあ (jā) means “then, in that case”. Nobody says “I”, “you” or “we”: the situation makes it clear.

Inviting: 〜ませんか

Replace the ます of a verb with ませんか and you have an invitation: 行きます → 行きませんか, 食べます (tabemasu, eat) → 食べませんか, 飲みます (nomimasu, drink) → 飲みませんか. Word for word it is a negative question, “don't you go?”, and in another context it can really ask that. Here, though, nobody wants to know a fact: the speaker offers an action and leaves the answer to you. Compare 明日行きますか, which asks for information, “Are you going tomorrow?”, with 明日行きませんか, which invites, “Why don't we go tomorrow?”. English does something similar: “Why don't we go?” is not really asking for a reason, although Japanese has no “why” here. ませんか can also offer something to you alone: コーヒーを飲みませんか can mean “Would you like a coffee?” as well. The rest of the sentence stays the same: に for the destination, で (de) for the place of an action, を (o) for what you drink.

行き／食べ／飲みませんか

Going ahead together: 〜ましょう

Replace ます with ましょう and you get “let's”: 行きましょう, 食べましょう, 飲みましょう. There is no か: it doesn't ask, it moves things forward, and here it includes the speaker. That is why it fits after a yes, or when the plan is already shared: はい、行きましょう (hai, ikimashō), “Yes, let's go”. With someone who hasn't shown interest yet, ませんか leaves more room, so start with it in situations like this lesson's. いいですね (ii desu ne), “Sounds good”, is a warm way to accept. Keep the ね (ne): after an offer, いいです alone can mean “No, thanks”.

行き／食べ／飲みましょう

Settling when: いつ, 何時に, 何日に

いつ行きますか settles when. On its own it can also mean “When are you going?”; inside a plan it means “When shall we go?”. いつ takes no に in these sentences. Time and date do: 何時に行きますか (nanji ni ikimasu ka), “What time shall we go?”, can be answered with 十時に行きましょう (jūji ni ikimashō), “Let's go at ten”, and 何日に行きますか (nannichi ni ikimasu ka), “What date shall we go?”, with 4月10日に行きましょう (shigatsu tōka ni ikimashō), “Let's go on April 10th”. Note the reading: 10日 is とおか (tōka), not the usual reading of the number. 明日 takes no に either, as in 明日行きませんか, while a weekday usually does, as in 土曜日に行きましょう. To propose a day and leave room, use ませんか; to settle it, use ましょう.

いつ／何時に／何日に行きますか

Saying no to a plan: ちょっと…

ちょっと (chotto) means “a little”. In すみません、ちょっと… (sumimasen, chotto…), “Sorry, that's a bit…”, the sentence stops there: “difficult” or “inconvenient” stays unsaid, and the listener understands that the proposal doesn't work. In 明日はちょっと… (ashita wa chotto…), は (wa) singles out the day, so the no is to tomorrow, not necessarily to the whole plan.

When you hear this, take it as a no to that proposal and don't ask the person to finish the sentence. そうですか (sō desu ka), “I see”, is enough. You can then suggest another day, as in the dialogue, or leave it there.

Another way: stating the fact

ちょっと… is one common way to decline, not a rule about how all Japanese speakers behave. Some people state the fact directly, as in すみません、明日は仕事です (sumimasen, ashita wa shigoto desu), “Sorry, I'm working tomorrow”, where 仕事 (shigoto) is “work”; you only need to recognize that sentence for now. The choice depends on the person, how close you are and the moment.

Your turn, and the summary

Cover the lines below. Invite a colleague for coffee on Saturday, answer as a colleague who can't make it, propose tomorrow, and accept. Only then check. Every word here has already appeared in this lesson.

To sum up: ませんか invites and leaves the answer to the other person, ましょう goes ahead together, いつ settles when, and ちょっと… declines gently.

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