After all these years, even simple, beginner-level Japanese baffles me. The sentence in the subject line didn't even look grammatical to me ("I let's go"???).

But it's straight out of baby-steps Core2K.

The translation I have for the subject line is "Why don't I go." Huh??? Could someone give me a fuller context for such an utterance?

TIA!

It's volitional. It means 'I will go'. Perhaps some friends are talking about who should go to see their teacher, and this person is volunteering. That's why が is being used to single out the subject.

It sounds like it should be in some context like:
"私が行きましょうか？”

If that's the case, the translation is correct, "Why don't I go?"

yeah, the が is making it explicit that 私 is the one who [should] go. in a suggesting way.

Another scenario could be a group of friends are at a store in a foreign country. They need to ask where something is but only one person speaks the language. So she says "I guess I'll go. (私が行きましょ)" (i.e., she'll be the one to go so she can ask someone where they can get whatever it is they want). Again, the focus is on her.

Javizy, thecite: thanks a lot; now I get it.

Edit: thx to bizarrojosh too

ましょうか would be 'shall I', whereas ましょう would be 'I will'. The translation has probably just tried to take into account the fact that it's a polite form. I don't think it's the key to understanding the grammar point.

Javizy Wrote:ましょうか would be 'shall I', whereas ましょう would be 'I will'. The translation has probably just tried to take into account the fact that it's a polite form. I don't think it's the key to understanding the grammar point.

Yeah, probably just a poor translation.

Javizy Wrote:It means 'I will go'. Perhaps some friends are talking about who should go to see their teacher, and this person is volunteering. That's why が is being used to single out the subject.

Returning to this scenario, suppose that, instead of volunteering with "私が行きましょ", this person had said "私が行きます", how would the meaning (or connotations) have changed?

別々に払いましょう。
いや、私が払います。

[Paying a bill]
Lets pay separately.
No, I'll pay it.

誰が払うのでしょうか？
私が払いましょう。

I wonder who should pay?
Why dont I pay the bill?

sikieiki Wrote:別々に払いましょう。
いや、私が払います。

[Paying a bill]
Lets pay separately.
No, I'll pay it.

誰が払うのでしょうか？
私が払いましょう。

I wonder who should pay?
Why dont I pay the bill?

OK, I see. Both "私が行きましょ" and "私が行きます" express volition, but "私が行きましょ" is closer to a proposal, while "私が行きます" is a blunt statement of intent that is not open to negotiation.
Thx!

Core2000 doesn't always give the correct translation. For example, I'm pretty sure "私の娘はアメリカにいます。" should translate to "My daughter is going to America," instead of, "My daughter is in America." Doesn't に mean you're going towards something like a destination?

Hero of Time Wrote:Core2000 doesn't always give the correct translation. For example, I'm pretty sure "私の娘はアメリカにいます。" should translate to "My daughter is going to America," instead of, "My daughter is in America." Doesn't に mean you're going towards something like a destination?

Only when used with a movement verb like "to go." います just means to exist.

It would be possible for that to mean "My daughter will be in America" depending on the context, but as Fillanzea said, it can't indicate movement.

に has a huge number of meanings, so it's good not to get locked too much into one of them.

Hey, I'm the only one with such a dirty mind (or healthy) or someone else also thought the same as me when saw the title of this thread?

So in Portuguese is it either 行く or 来る?

mentat_kgs Wrote:Hey, I'm the only one with such a dirty mind (or healthy) or someone else also thought the same as me when saw the title of this thread?

Doesn't the kanji make it pretty obvious? If the 丁寧語 and grammar didn't...

Yeah, I've never seen the sexual meaning written with the 行 kanji (or any kanji at all). That didn't even occur to me until you pointed it out.

lighten up fellows - bit of humour?

ydtt Wrote:Yeah, I've never seen the sexual meaning written with the 行 kanji (or any kanji at all).

You encounter it often in Heian literature, do you? I've not seen it written, but Kenkyuusha seems to think 行く! is okay. (edit: but Daijirin says it's more commonly kana). [It does make me a bit curious how the slang might differ among languages/cultures.]

Ah, in Portuguese is something completely different. But it sort of works too.

Thora Wrote:lighten up fellows - bit of humour?

Would you find 私 and ましょう sexy in such a situation? I wonder how many 外人 have said such a thing

Sure...I love when people talk polite. ;p
[erased comment - not sure my sarcasm is always obvious]

私がイきましょう would have to rank pretty low on the list of "romantic things you want to hear your partner say in bed".

And Thora, there's a lot of sex in Genji. :-)

yudantaiteki Wrote:私がイきましょう would have to rank pretty low on the list of "romantic things you want to hear your partner say in bed".

in other words ... kinda funny? ;-)

Quote:And Thora, there's a lot of sex in Genji. :-)

I would guess Heian "slang" was a bit more...poetically euphemistic. I was quite surprised and intrigued by amorous lives of Lady Nijo and Sei Shonagon. (I read them in English.) The idea of someone composing a "morning after" poem struck me as a lost romantic art. But I was also surprised by the women's humour and callousness. It seems so... modern?

Yeah, but I can't read 私が行きましょう and not think of イくわ～

The most explicit sex scene in Genji is in chapter 3, when he accidentally sleeps with Utsusemi's stepdaughter. Because of her low rank, the narrator is slightly more descriptive than usual. First, when Genji spies her playing go, her clothing is described as 紅の腰ひき結へる際まで胸あらはに、ばうぞくなるもてなしなり [in modern Japanese, 紅のズボンの紐が結んでいるところまで胸があらわにして、だらしない格好だ。]

Then later when he actually goes to bed with her, we get ありしけはひよりは、ものものしくおぼゆれど、思ほしうも寄らずかし。[modern: 前の方より太っている感じがしたけど、別人とは思わなかったよね。]

At least in the Genji that's about the most explicit you ever get, although in the context of the Genji these are shockingly explicit -- for Murasaki to even acknowledge the human body, much less actually say things like "her breasts were bared" is surprising.