Standard Lemma guide

let's

verb · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /lɛts/
  • rhymes with -ɛts
  • CMU ARPABET: L EH1 T S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

Used to form the cohortative of verbs, equivalent of the first-person plural imperative in some other languages.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Let’s eat lunch sometime, shall we?
  • I say let’s dance.
  • Let's buy a bottle of champagne if Mom comes, we’ll wait and see.
  • Let's go for a walk, shall we? -Sure, let’s.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

Used to form the hortative of verbs, equivalent of the second-person plural imperative in some other languages, chiefly instructional

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Let’s make sure we don’t forget proper punctuation, let's not let those mistakes happen again.
  • Hey guys, let’s check to make sure that we proofread.
  • Y’all, let’s stop talking please, y’all are driving me up the wall!

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Contraction of let us. Compare non-contracted Dutch laat ons, German lass uns (speaker with one other person) / lasst uns (speaker with more other persons) and Swedish låt oss.

Across languages

Translations

64 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: لِـ (li-) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Arabic: هَيَّا (hayyā) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Arabic: دَعْنَا (daʕnā) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Arabic: خلينا (khalīna) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Armenian: արի (ari) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Armenian: քել (kʻel) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Azerbaijani: haydı — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Azerbaijani: gəl — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Azerbaijani: gəlin — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Azerbaijani: -ək — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Azerbaijani: -aq — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Chinese Cantonese: 不如 (bat1 jyu4) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Chinese Mandarin: 我們 — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不如 (bùrú) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Classical Chinese: 何如 (hérú) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Classical Chinese: 莫若 (mòruò) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Classical Chinese: 莫如 (mòrú) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Crimean Tatar: aydı — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Danish: lad os — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Dutch: laten we — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • German: lass/lasst uns — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • German: wollen wir + — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Haitian Creole: annou — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Haitian Creole: ann — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Hebrew: בוא (bo) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Hebrew: בואי (bo'i) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Hungarian: -junk — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Hungarian: -jünk — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Icelandic: við skulum — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Indonesian: mari — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Indonesian: ayo — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Interlingua: vamos — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Khmer: តស់ (tɑh) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Korean: -읍시다 (-eupsida) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Korean: -자 (-ja) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Korean: -시죠 (-sijo) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Malay: mari — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Malay: ayuh — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Mongolian: -ъя (-ʺja) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Old English: uton — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Polish: -my — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Portuguese: -emos — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Portuguese: -amos — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Portuguese: vamos — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Portuguese: bora — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Romanian: eg. să mergem (hai) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Romanian: haide — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Serbo-Croatian: hajdemo — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Serbo-Croatian: aj'mo — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Serbo-Croatian: hajde — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Thai: ...กันเถอะ (...gan tə̀) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkish: hadi — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkish: haydi — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkish: -alım — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkish: -elim — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkmen: -aly — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkmen: -eli — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkmen: -alyň — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkmen: -eliň — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkmen: -eýli — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkmen: -aýly — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Turkmen: geliň — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Vietnamese: hãy — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
  • Yiddish: לאָמיר (lomir) — let us; forming first-person plural imperative
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