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let's

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
(Redirected from let’s)
See also: lets, Lets, LETS, and lēts

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)
  • IPA(key): /lɛts/
  • Rhymes: -ɛts

Verb

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let’s

  1. Used to form the cohortative of verbs, equivalent of the first-person plural imperative in some other languages.
    Let’s eat lunch sometime.
    I say let’s dance.
  2. Used to form the hortative of verbs, equivalent of the second-person plural imperative in some other languages, chiefly instructional
    Let’s make sure we don’t forget proper punctuation.
    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!

Usage notes

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Negation of let’s is let’s not in standard English.

  • Let’s not talk about it.

Don’t is also used, but it is often considered non-standard.

  • Let’s don’t talk about it. (US)
  • Don’t let’s talk about it. (British)

Tag questions with let’s typically take shall we?.

  • Let’s go to the beach, shall we?

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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Anagrams

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