On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 4:42 PM, Ivo Doko
<ivo.doko@gmail.com> wrote:
I always thought "let us" (or, more commonly, "let's") was a way to
say first-person plural imperative of verbs in English. For example,
"let's go" - first-person plural imperative of the verb "to go".
I think that's just because that's how it's explained in the grammars of (some) Indo-European languages. "Let's go", "Allons", "VÃmonos" -- they're all referred to as imperatives when you learn these languages' grammars. I don't think the first-person imperative & second-person imperative align semantically, however. When you say "Get out of here", you usually mean to command the listener ({ko cliva}). When you say "Let's get out of here", you usually mean to suggest a course of action toward which you're already inclined ({.e'u mi'o cliva}). It could be a command, in which case something like {ko mi kansa lo nu cliva} or {ko joi mi cliva} might be good translations.
mu'o mi'e komfo,amonan