The Volitional Form

The volitional form of a verb has the same meaning as the mashou-form and is used for suggesting activities or things to do.

The volitional form is, however, less polite than the mashou-form and more likely to be used between close friends. Want to suggest going for a drink with that special someone? Then this is the conjugation for you!

Conjugating the Volitional Form

U-verbs (Group I)

Take the dictionary form, and change the last kana from the う-line sound to the お-line sound. Finally, add う.

Dictionary Form	Volitional Form
行く	行こう
会う	会おう
話す	話そう
買う	買おう

Ru-verbs (Group II)

Ru-verbs are pretty friendly towards conjugators. Take the dictionary form, remove the final る and add よう.

Dictionary Form	Volitional Form
見る	見よう
食べる	食べよう

Irregular Verbs (Group III)

Dictionary Form	Volitional Form
する	しよう
くる	こよう

Questions in the Volitional Form

Statements in the volitional form can be made into questions using rising inflexion or the particle か.

While most informal forms of speech do not use the particle か to form a question (they rely on inflexion), the volitional form is an exception to this rule, and it is not considered rude or too direct to create a question using the particle か, e.g.

• 今日は何をしようか
  (What would you like to do today?)

Example Sentences

• 君に免じて彼を許そう。
  Let's forgive him.

• 外に出ようよ。
  Let's go outside.

• さてどうしよう。
  What shall I do now?