Volitional

Production Rules:

Inflection Examples:

Irregulars:

Usage Notes & Examples:

1. The plain affirmative of this form is used to indicate that the speaker intends to do something. Note that in a polite context this would be expressed using the polite form of the nonpast indicative. Strong desires or volitions are usually not expressed directly in a polite context, but are softened in a number of different ways.
   • お昼は？　お寿司食べよう。
     o-hiru wa? o-sushi tabeyou.
     Lunch? I'm going to eat sushi.
2. The polite affirmative of this form expressed as a statement is used as an inclusive suggestion of the form usually expressed by "let's..." in English.
   • 映画に行きましょう。
     eiga ni ikimashou.
     Let's go to the movies.
3. Similar to above, the plain and polite affirmative expressed as a question is a softer form of the suggestion, similar to "shall we...?" in English.
   • お医者さんに聞こうか。
     o-isha-san ni kikou ka.
     Shall we ask the physician?
   • バスはあまり来ないのでタクシーで 行きましょうか。
     basu wa amari konai no de takushii de ikimashou ka.
     The bus doesn't come often so shall we go by taxi?
4. The negative forms of the volitional are relatively rare. They can convey a very strong intention not to do something, or intention to not let something happen, and therefore there would often be some emotion involved in the situation. Thus, the place you will see this the most is in literary or dramatic contexts.
   • よし、この男にだけは負けるまい。
     yoshi, kono otoko ni dake wa makerumai.
     Alright, I absolutely will not lose to this guy at least.
5. The negative is used in the pattern "[plain volitional] to [negative volitional] to ..." meaning regardless of whether or not the action of the verb takes place. There is some implied frustration, anger, impatience, etc. in this pattern: the speaker no longer cares whether the cited action occurs or not.
   • プロジェクトが成功しようと成功するまいと、彼は首にする。
     purojekuto ga seikou shiyou to seikou surumai to, kare wa kubi ni suru.
     Regardless of whether the project succeeds or not, I'm firing him.
6. Although these volitional forms were once used presumptively (i.e. with a meaning of "probably [does]"), the use of what's called the volitional here is outmoded as a presumptive in modern Japanese. For that meaning, use the presumptive form and past presumptive form.
7. There is a past tense of this form which, rather than being a volitional meaning, is an outmoded past presumptive (i.e. with a meaning of "probably [did]"). It can be formed by taking the past indicative form and adding -ろう (-rou) directly to it. For example, for 呼ぶ (yobu, to call), the conjugation would be 呼んだろう (yondarou), 呼びましたろう (yobimashitarou), 呼ばなかったろう (yobanakattarou), 呼びませんでしたろう (yobimasen deshitarou). While the form exists and you might run across it in drama or literature, it is not used in modern Japanese and you can basically just forget it.

Expressions

-ou to suru

-ou to shita