"Roku de Nashi" - Let's Let's (~You form)

Good morning, good day, good opportunity! In today's StudyOke! lesson, we'll be looking at the ~you verb form through Yuzu's Roku de Nashi.

Original Lyrics / Romaji / Phrasal Translation

About the Song: Starting Small

Yuzu started in 1997 as two-man band playing on the streets of Yokohama, but Kitagawa Yuujin and Iwasawa Kouji have been playing in bands together since middle school. Nineteen years later, they've racked up an impressive 8 number one albums. They've never had an album fail to make the top tend and haven't had one peak below number three since 1998. Not band for some boys playing for tips on the sidewalk!

For today's song, we're going back to the very beginning for Yuzu. Their first indie album, Yuzu no Su, has several songs that were recorded live on the sidewalk (hint - if you hear clapping at the end of the song, it's probably live). This includes today's song, Roku de Nashi.

The J-Pop world sometimes falls victim to fake personalities and manufactured success. But if the worst of J-Pop is plastic , Yuzu no Su bursts with refreshing, acidic humor and street kid sincerity. As the opening track, Teppen ("Summit"), says "It's something that those who only know the taste of victory won't understand even if we tell them."

But Teppen only starts the ball rolling, Okamura Bugiugi ("Okamura BoogieWoogie") celebrates the simple life in the unfashionable suburb the members of Yuzu grew up in. And of course, Roku de Nashi ("Bum"), today's song invites the listener to drop appearances and step out into the streets.

That's why there's no better song or album for today's topic: "Let's Let's." Because success isn't just for the successful - it's for the people who are willing to fail, to drop appearances, to risk the effort and look a little foolish.

One in a million people are handed success. For the rest of us - Let's Let's!

[Today's Topic: Let's Let's (~You form) is after the jump]

Today's Topic: Let's Let's (~You form)

We're going to talk about Let'sing in a bit, but first, I'd like to point out a few things that show up in Roku de Nashi that we've discussed in the past. After all, if you're not actively looking for these things, you're not sticking them into your mind.

笑いながら行けばいいさ(Warainagara ikeba ii sa)	~ba ii was discussed here.
あぁ くだらない そう決めつけて  (Aa Kudaranai Sou kimetsukete)	~te form was discussed here, but be careful. We looked at ~te kureru in particular - this is usage of ~te form is completely different!
そう あの時言われて初めて  (Sou Ano toki iwarete hajimete)

Stepping on to the main topic, today we're going to learn how to use the ~you verb form.

I'm sure you're familiar with the idea of verb forms and changing the end of a verb to change its meaning. After all, we already discussed ~ba ii and ~te kureru which use the ~ba and ~te verb forms. So what we're doing today is adding one more tool to the tool box.

And what a tool it is! If you're a fan of Engrish, then you already noticed many Engrish phrases start with Let's:

I stole these from Engrish.com and I'm not even sorry.

But seriously, they're doing God's work over there.

And of course, who can forget this classic:



So this is a common phrase for Engrish. Why? Do they think we're all running around shouting "Let's so bring it! On down"?

No. It's because of the ~you verb form. ~you verbs, in their simplest form, just meant "Let's [verb]."

Let's look at our examples from Roku de Nashi: さぁ 行こう and 出掛けよう (Saa Ikou and Dekakeyou)

Base Verb	Kanji	Romaji	Translation
行く(Iku)	行こう	Ikou	Let’s go
出掛ける (Dekakeru)	出掛けよう	Dekakeyou	Let’s leave

(For those wondering, Saa is just a way to start a sentence - roughly similar to "So" or "Anyway" or "Well")

As you can see, iku (to go) becomes ikou (Let's go). Dekakeru (to go out, to leave) becomes dekakeyou (let's go out, let's leave).

And that's all there is to it! Verb + ~you = Let's [verb].

Just so you know, you can use this in the more polite masu verb form as well:

Masu Verb	Kanji	Romaji	Translation
行きます (Ikimasu)	行きましょう	Ikimashou	Let’s go
出掛けます (Dekakemasu)	出掛けましょう	Dekakemashou	Let’s leave

The meaning is the same, it's just more polite.

Now, the meaning of ~you verbs can change when combined with another verb (~you to suru, for example means something completely different), but that can wait for another day. For now, the important thing is to focus on picking out ~you verbs around you, whether in Japanese classes, television, real-life conversations, or of course music!

As important as it is to listen for ~you sentences, this isn't a post about letting other people do stuff for you! With this chart, you can start making Let's verbs of your own:

Base Form	"You" Form	Base Form	"You" Form
U Verbs
買う	買おう	Kau	Kaou
書く	書こう	Kaku	Kakou
降ろす	降ろそう	Orosu	Orosou
立つ	立とう	Tatsu	Tatou
Ru Verbs
やめる	やめよう	Yameru	Yameyou
食べる	食べよう	Taberu	Tabeyou
Irregular Verbs
する	しよう	Suru	Shiyou
来る	来よう	Kuru	Koyou
Masu Verbs
買います	買いましょう	Kaimasu	Kaimashou
やめます	やめましょう	Yamemasu	Yamemashou
します	しましょう	Shimasu	Shimashou

That's all for today, but then, today is just the start. With time and practice, you'll be ~youing all over the place on your own. Until then, thanks for stopping by, and keep StudyOkeing!