The use of давай and давайте
In a grammar book I saw “давайте читать только по-русскии” – “Let’s read only in Russian”
In a video teaching Russian food vocabulary the hostess said “Давайте откроем холодильник” – “Let’s open the refrigerator”. Would “Давайте открыть холодильник ” have also been correct?
Could the previous sentence have been written “давайте читаем только по-русскии”?
From these two examples I infer that if you want to say “Let’s do …” you use давайте and then you have the choice of following it with either the infinitive or the first person plural present tense of the verb. Is my understanding correct?
In a video teaching Russian food vocabulary the hostess said “Давайте откроем холодильник” – “Let’s open the refrigerator”. Would “Давайте открыть холодильник ” have also been correct?
Could the previous sentence have been written “давайте читаем только по-русскии”?
From these two examples I infer that if you want to say “Let’s do …” you use давайте and then you have the choice of following it with either the infinitive or the first person plural present tense of the verb. Is my understanding correct?
1 answer
Hi George,
The words давай and давайте can be used either with a perfective verb in 2nd person plural:
Давай прочитаем этот текст. Let's read this book (tilll the end).
Давайте посмотрим фильм. Let's watch the film (finish watching it).
Or with an imperfective infinitive, meaning a process:
Давайте читать этот текст. Let's read this text (as a process).
Давайте смотреть этот фильм. Let's watch this film (as a process).
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