let's
verb/lɛts/
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.
1
Used to form the cohortative of verbs, equivalent of the first-person plural imperative in some other languages.
- Let’s eat lunch sometime, shall we?
- I say let’s dance.
3 more examples
- 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.
- Let’s get coffee!2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
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, let's not let those mistakes happen again.
- Hey guys, let’s check to make sure that we proofread.
1 more example
- Y’all, let’s stop talking please, y’all are driving me up the wall!
- Derived terms
- let's be having you, let's dance, let's face it, let's get the party started, let's get this circus on the road, let's get this party started, let's go, let's have it, let's hear it for someone, let's know, let's not and say we did, let's play, let's roll, let's say, let's see