Lesson 36 of 126
The lesson
3.10 Polite invitation
Overview
Learn how to invite someone politely in Japanese using ～ませんか. This form is commonly used to make gentle suggestions and allows the other person to decline easily.
～ませんか is used to invite someone politely. Even though it uses a negative form, it does not express refusal or doubt.
This form softens the suggestion and makes it easier for the other person to decline. Because of this, ～ませんか is often preferred over more direct invitation forms.
Accepting the invitation:
Declining politely is usually indirect:
In casual speech, ～ない？ is often used instead.
Dialogue
きょう今日はてんき天気がいいです。 いっしょにこうえん公園にいきません行きませんか。
べんちベンチにすわりません座りませんか。 こうひいコーヒーをのみません飲みませんか。
The weather is nice today. Would you like to go to the park together?
Would you like to sit on a bench? Would you like to drink some coffee?
Would you like to talk a little? Then, would you like to walk to the station?
There is time. Would you like to take it easy?
New words
Grammar
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