'escapémonos? and the conjugation of commands

Question

I understand that 'vamos? is often used an imperative as in 'let's go? but I haven't seen any source that shows me how to conjugate the nosotros form of a command.

One example: I heard a song that says 'escapémonos? as in 'let's escape.? To say 'we escape? in Spanish is 'escapamos? and even if we add the 'nos? to make it reflexive we would get 'escapamosnos.?

What I'm asking is: where does this strange nosotros form of the imperitive (escapémonos) come from and how can we conjugate other words such as 'let's play, let's read, let's eat, etc.'?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Answer 1

I understand that 'vamos? is often used an imperative as in 'let's go? but I haven't seen any source that shows me how to conjugate the nosotros form of a command.

One example: I heard a song that says 'escapémonos? as in 'let's escape.? To say 'we escape? in Spanish is 'escapamos? and even if we add the 'nos? to make it reflexive we would get 'escapámosnos.?

What I'm asking is: where does this strange nosotros form of the imperitive (escapémonos) come from and how can we conjugate other words such as 'let's play, let's read, let's eat, etc.'?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

The let's ... form to which you refer is formed by using the 1st person plural verb ending in the present tense of the subjunctive mood.
It may also be expresssed with Que+....
or vamos a....

vámonos=vamos + nos
drop the final s before attaching the nos

Note: my grammar book called this form an exhortation, not a command.
Looking into it further, I see it also referred to as an indirect command.

Answer 2

I haven't seen any source that shows me how to conjugate the nosotros form of a command.

if you conjugate a verb in 1st person it would not be a command, maybe an invitation or an exhortation.

vámonos de esta habitación al espacio exterior

I guess that´s why only the 2nd person is described when talking about commands.

now, let´s go = ir ---Vamos

but Let´s go = irse-----vámonos

let´s play ----> Juguemos

let´s fly ----> Volemos

Answer 3

The let's ... form to which you refer is formed by using the 1st person plural verb ending in the present tense of the subjunctive mood.

It may also be expresssed with Que+....

or vamos a'.

Can anyone give me an example of how to say let's using Que ...?

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/indcomm.htm

http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/indirect_commands

This site doesn't translate the sentences directly with let us..., but it does show the use of Que to express indirect commands. I'll try to find the sentences where they actually translated to "let us....".

Answer 4

It may also be expresssed with Que+....

or vamos a'.

Can anyone give me an example of how to say let's using Que ...?

What he means, I think, is

¡que comas!
¡que no hables!
¡que te levantes!
¡que os vayáis!

However, this is not possible in plural including yourself.

Oh, I have reread the post, no, this does not mean "let's....", it can only be used as a very strong sounding command both in singular or in plural but not including yourself.

Answer 5

I guess what Quentin meant was:

Es mejor que leamos
Quiero que leamos
Sugiero que leamos
etc.

which can be simply by "Leamos".

Answer 6

The let's ... form to which you refer is formed by using the 1st person plural verb ending in the present tense of the subjunctive mood.
It may also be expresssed with Que+....
or vamos a'.

Can anyone give me an example of how to say let's using Que ...'

Answer 7

¡Muchisimas gracias!

Answer 8

I understand that 'vamos? is often used an imperative as in 'let's go? but I haven't seen any source that shows me how to conjugate the nosotros form of a command.

The verb "ir" is the only one with two exhortative forms for this. The regular one, "vayamos" (or the pronominal "vayámonos") is hardly used with this intention; it sounds too formal. Instead, we use "Vamos".

What I'm asking is: where does this strange nosotros form of the imperative (escapémonos) come from and how can we conjugate other words such as 'let's play, let's read, let's eat, etc.'?

As Quentin said, take the first person plural of the present subjunctive, and drop the s whenever you add to the pronouns -nos or -se.

However, it is much more frequent to say: Vamos a jugar, Vamos a leer, Vamos a comer,... and often in colloquial Spanish, people omit the "vamos", and simply say "¡A comer!"