Let's go

[Tyrn]

Hi,

The Context Reverso output is very curious. The presence of some system is obvious; unfortunately, I can't tell what it is :(


Okay, let's go to the cape as agreed.
Vale, vamos al cabo como acordamos.

Shoot him in the head and let's go.
Dispárale en la cabeza y vámonos.

Okay, soldier boy, let's go roust some muggers.
De acuerdo, soldado, vayamos a atrapar algunos ladrones.

Well, then let's go hunting elks.
Bueno, vayamos a cazar alces.

So we have vamos, vamonos, and vayamos a in very similar sentences. What's the subtle difference?

[Rusty]

The verb ir is followed by the preposition a when a prepositional object (which could be an infinitive) is provided. The same goes for irse.
The two verbs don't mean the same thing.
The ir + a + infinitivo construction expresses the near future.

In the imperative mood, the first person plural of ir is vayamos, but it is often shortened to vamos in colloquial speech. You'll hear and see written this way all the time. (You'll also encounter a dropping of the preposition a, even though all of your examples properly use it. This is especially seen when a word that begins with a follows the imperative, but the author got your third example right!)

The first person plural of irse is vayámonos, but it's often shortened to vámonos. (Again, expect to see an occasional dropping of the preposition a, even though it must be used when a noun follows. Again, your examples got it right.)