Lass uns gehen, sonst verpassen wir den Zug wegen des neuen Staus.

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Breakdown of Lass uns gehen, sonst verpassen wir den Zug wegen des neuen Staus.

• wir: we
• gehen: to go
• der Zug: the train

Questions & Answers about Lass uns gehen, sonst verpassen wir den Zug wegen des neuen Staus.

Why does German say Lass uns gehen to express let’s go in English, instead of Lasst uns gehen or Gehen wir?

Lass uns gehen literally means “let us go”: lass is the imperative of lassen (“to let”), uns is “us,” and gehen is “go.” This is the fixed, everyday way to suggest “let’s go.”

• Lasst uns gehen looks like a regular ihr-imperative, but modern German reserves lass uns as the standard “let’s” construction—you almost never use lasst uns here.
• Gehen wir is another grammatical option (inversion of wir
  • verb), but it sounds more formal or theatrical. In casual speech, Germans stick with Lass uns gehen.

What part of speech is sonst, and why is there a comma before it?

sonst is a conjunctive adverb meaning “otherwise.” It links two independent clauses (Lass uns gehen and sonst verpassen wir den Zug) and therefore requires a comma. Note that only und, oder, aber and denn can join main clauses without a comma—sonst always needs one.

Why is the word order sonst verpassen wir den Zug and not sonst wir verpassen den Zug?