Word
Давай читать книгу в парке.
Meaning
Let’s read a book in the park.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Давай читать книгу в парке.
What does давай mean here? Is it the same as let's in English?
Давай literally comes from the verb давать (to give), but in everyday speech, давай is a fixed expression that usually means:
- let's … (making a suggestion)
- come on / go ahead (encouraging someone)
In this sentence, Давай читать книгу в парке = Let’s read a book in the park.
So you can remember давай + infinitive as the standard way to say let’s do something in Russian.
What’s the difference between давай and давайте?
Both mean let’s, but they differ in formality and number:
- давай – informal, for one person you know well (ты)
- давайте –
- polite form to one person (like vous in French, Sie in German)
- or to more than one person (вы)
Examples:
- To a friend: Давай читать книгу в парке. – Let’s read a book in the park.
- To your teacher (politely) or a group: Давайте читать книгу в парке. – Let’s read a book in the park.
Grammatically, the structure is the same: давай(те) + infinitive.
Why do we use the infinitive читать instead of an imperative like ?