Making a proposal in Japanese: 行こう and 〜ようと思っています

Level B1

Making a proposal in Japanese: 行こう and 〜ようと思っています

By the end of this lesson you can make a proposal to a friend, decide something together and tell someone what you have in mind. The central idea is this: the volitional form, 行こう (ikō), 食べよう (tabeyō), 飲もう (nomō), voices the speaker's own will. Said to a friend, it proposes doing something together and is the close version of ましょう (mashō). Placed before と思っています (to omotte imasu), it says what you're thinking of doing. Either way the speaker takes part, so it isn't a general way of telling someone else what to do.

Warm-up: invitations, plain forms, intentions

These pieces come back in this lesson, even if this is the first time you see them. 明日行きませんか (ashita ikimasen ka), “Why don't we go tomorrow?”, invites and leaves the answer to the other person. 十時に行きましょう (jūji ni ikimashō), “Let's go at ten”, moves a shared plan forward. Both are polite. Between friends, the plain form replaces ます: 今日はカフェに行く (kyō wa kafe ni iku), “I'm going to the café today”. コーヒー、飲まない？ (kōhī, nomanai?), “Want a coffee?”, is the friends' ませんか. And 海に行くつもりです (umi ni iku tsumori desu), “I intend to go to the beach”, says what you've made up your mind to do. This lesson adds the friends' version of ましょう and one more way of talking about intentions.

Three verbs, one more, and “together”

The new form is built from the dictionary form, so you need these three: 行く (iku, go), 食べる (taberu, eat), 飲む (nomu, drink). 思う (omou) is “think”; in this lesson's pattern it means having something in mind. 一緒に (issho ni) is “together”.

  • 行(い)くgo
  • 食(た)べるeat
  • 飲(の)むdrink
  • 思(おも)うthink
  • 一緒(いっしょ)にtogether

Model: two friends plan a day out

Listen once without reading. No verb ends in ます, because these two are close. A starts with a question, not a proposal: 来週 (raishū) is “next week”, and どこ (doko) is “where”. Then the decision takes shape: a proposal, a yes, a day that doesn't work, a new day, a yes. 海 (umi) is “the sea”, here “the beach”, 土曜日 (doyōbi) is “Saturday”, 日曜日 (nichiyōbi) is “Sunday” and 魚 (sakana) is “fish”. いいね (ii ne) is the friends' いいですね, “Sounds good”. ごめん (gomen) is a friend's “sorry”, ちょっと… (chotto…) declines by leaving the sentence unfinished, じゃあ (jā) is “then” and うん (un) is “yeah”.

Building the form: 行こう, 食べよう, 飲もう

This form is called the volitional, and you make it from the dictionary form. Our three verbs split the same way they do for ない. 食べる drops る and takes よう: 食べよう (tabeyō). 行く and 飲む change their last sound to its “o” version, く to こ and む to も, and then add う: 行こう (ikō), 飲もう (nomō). That う lengthens the “o”; it isn't a separate “u”. So it's 飲もう, not 飲みよう or 飲むよう. The ending doesn't always show which way a verb goes, because some verbs ending in る change like 飲む, so learn each verb's form with the verb.

The rest of the sentence stays as it was: に (ni) for the destination in 海に行こう, で (de) for the place of an action in ここで食べよう, and を (o) for what you drink in コーヒーを飲もう. 一緒に goes before the verb: 一緒に食べよう, “Let's eat together”.

海に行こう／ここで食べよう／コーヒーを飲もう

Same proposal, two listeners

行きましょう and 行こう both mean “let's go”. The difference lies in who you're talking to, as in the first four lines: ここで食べましょう for a colleague, ここで食べよう (koko de tabeyō) for a friend. With a teacher, a client or someone you've just met, 行こう sounds too familiar; with a close friend, 行きましょう can sound distant. If you aren't sure, stay with ましょう. English “let's” doesn't change with the listener, so here the whole choice is in the verb ending.

The last four lines show that each register has two ways in. コーヒーを飲みませんか (kōhī o nomimasen ka), “Why don't we have a coffee?”, and コーヒー、飲まない？ leave room for a no. コーヒーを飲みましょう (kōhī o nomimashō) and コーヒーを飲もう (kōhī o nomō) go ahead. With a friend, a direct 行こう is a normal way to propose, as in the model; with someone who hasn't shown interest yet, ませんか leaves more room than ましょう.

Deciding together: 何を食べようか

Add か (ka) to the volitional and the proposal becomes a shared question: 何を食べようか (nani o tabeyō ka), “What shall we eat?”, invites the other person to decide with you. Compare いつ行こうか (itsu ikō ka), “When shall we go?”, with a plain question like コーヒー、飲む？ (kōhī, nomu?), which usually drops か. In these proposals か normally stays; without it, 何を食べよう can sound as if you're thinking aloud.

Question words work as usual: どこに (doko ni), “where to”, 何を (nani o), “what”, 何時に (nanji ni), “at what time”, and いつ (itsu), “when”, with no に. The last two lines are the polite version, ましょうか (mashō ka): どこに行きましょうか (doko ni ikimashō ka), 何時に行きましょうか (nanji ni ikimashō ka).

どこに行こう／何を食べよう／何時に行こうか

The speaker takes part: not a way to give orders

Because this form voices the speaker's own will, the speaker is in the action. コーヒーを飲もう means you're having one too. If only the other person is to do something, ask with the て form: コーヒーを飲んでください (kōhī o nonde kudasai), “Please have some coffee”, and 食べてください (tabete kudasai), “Please eat”. Between friends you'll also hear just 食べて (tabete). So don't use 行こう to send someone off on their own: it means you're going too.

You may see this form on public posters or hear a teacher use it with a class, as a call to “all of us”. That is a shared call to a group, not a model for telling a friend or a colleague what to do.

What you have in mind: 〜ようと思っています

On its own, 行こう can also be a thought: “Right, I'll go.” と (to) sets that thought before 思っています (omotte imasu), “I'm thinking”. So 海に行こうと思っています (umi ni ikō to omotte imasu) is word for word “I'm thinking ‘I'll go to the beach’”, or “I'm thinking of going to the beach”. ています shows the idea is on your mind now and has been for a while. In this lesson the person thinking is always you.

The end of the sentence sets the register. います makes this polite, so it works with a colleague, even with 行こう inside. Between friends the ending shortens: 海に行こうと思ってる (umi ni ikō to omotteru), in the last line, which you only need to recognize for now.

The volitional is what gives this meaning. With the dictionary form, 行くと思います (iku to omoimasu) usually means “I think someone will go”, an opinion. The volitional also has no everyday negative, so for what you've decided not to do, use つもり (tsumori): 明日は行かないつもりです (ashita wa ikanai tsumori desu), “Tomorrow I intend not to go”. As a reminder: 今日 (kyō) is “today”, 明日 (ashita) “tomorrow”, カフェ (kafe) “café”.

行こう／食べよう／飲もうと思っています

Model: from an idea to a shared plan

Now the same job with a colleague, so every line is polite. B shares an idea with と思っています, and it turns into a plan through ませんか and ましょう, with 何時に行きましょうか to settle the time. 何をしますか (nani o shimasu ka) is “what are you doing?”, and 十時はどうですか (jūji wa dō desu ka) is “how about ten?”.

How settled is it?

These five sentences are about the same trip; what changes is how far along it is. 行きたいです (ikitai desu) is a wish. 行こうと思っています is an idea you have in mind, usually still open to change. Next to it, 行くつもりです is firmer: you've made up your mind. 行く予定です (iku yotei desu) puts it on the schedule. 行くことにしました (iku koto ni shimashita) reports a decision you've taken. That order is a tendency, not a fixed scale, and none of these is a promise: plans change.

This is why 行こうと思っています works so well before a proposal, as in the model: it shares an idea and leaves room for someone to join in.

Your turn, and a summary

You're making plans, first with a friend and then with a colleague. Cover the lines below. Ask your friend what time to go, then propose ten. Next, tell your colleague you're thinking of going to the beach next week, suggest going together, and give their yes. Check only afterwards.

In short: 行こう, 食べよう and 飲もう are the friends' ましょう; with か they decide together; before と思っています they say what you have in mind. The speaker always takes part, so to get someone else to act, use the て form.

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