"¡bailemos!" or "¡vamos á bailar!", what's the difference?

Question

"¡cantemos!" or "¡vamos á cantar!" "¡juguemos!" or "¡vamos á jugar!" etc...

What is the difference between the 1st person plural imperative, and "vamos á" + infinitive?

Answer 1

The imperative is ordering us to dance or sing or play in your examples. vamos a + infinitive means we are probably doing it of our own choice. By the way there is no accent on the "a".

Answer 2

The difference is that the single word is the imperative conjugated verb form and "Vamos a...." is a phrase using the infinitive. They both have basically the same meaning, but in Mexico the Spaniards tend to use the imperative more and the Mexicans tend to use the phrase more, ie: "¡Bailemos, hombre!" "¡Bailemos, pues!" as opposed to "¡Vamos a bailar!"