We can use let to mean to rent out a house.
- We moved to Australia and let our house in London.
A major use of let is for talking about ‘allowing’ and ‘permission’.
- My mother let me come.
- I let her leave early.
One pattern is let followed by an OBJECT followed by a BARE INFINITIVE
- She let me have the last one.
- You must let us know when you are coming to New York.
- I didn’t let my friend drive my car.
- Why did you let Jane do that?
Another pattern is let followed by an OBJECT followed by a COMPLEMENT
- Let me past.
- The police aren’t letting anybody out of the building.
- Don’t let him get away.
- Why did you let him in?
Notice that we can use reflexive pronouns to talk about what we allow ourselves to do.
- I let myself be influenced by her.
- She let herself out.
- I didn’t let myself be talked into it.
- Did you let yourself in?
Notice that we do not make a contraction out of let us when asking for permission.
- Let us help you.
- Let us pay for this.
- Let us buy that.
- Let us take the risk.
We use let’s when we are making a suggestion.
- Let’s go to the cinema.
- Let’s stay at home.
- Let’s not argue. (formal)
- Don’t let’s argue. (informal)
Compare these
- Let us watch TV, please. (asking for permission)
- Let’s watch TV. (a suggestion)
There are many fixed expressions, idioms and phrasal verbs using let.
Let alone means ‘much less’
- I’ve never been to Africa, let alone Ghana.
- I’ve never met any actor, let alone Brad Pitt.
Let go can mean to dismiss
- My company let 20 people go.
- I was let go three weeks ago.
Let your hair down means to lose your inhibitions.
- At the office party, everybody let their hair down and we had fun.
Don’t let it get you down means to stay cheerful although something bad has happened.
- Everybody makes mistakes. Don’t let it get you down.
Let you off/let you off the hook means that you are excused, even though you did something wrong or had something bad to do.
- I made a mess but the boss let me off.
- I was supposed to tidy up after the party but I was let off the hook as Sandra did it.
Letting off steam means to get rid of excess energy or frustration.
- After work I go to the gym and let off steam on the treadmill.
- We need to go out after the exams and let off steam.
Let me see and let me think are expressions used to give you time to think.
- You want a raise? Let me think. Can we discuss this later?
- A good place for lunch? Let me see. How about the Italian restaurant?
Let’s say and let’s suppose are used to talk about hypothetical situations.
- Let’s say that you were boss. What would you do?
- Let’s suppose that we don’t get the contract. What do we do?
Let’s hope is used to express a hope.
- Let’s hope he gets the job.
- Yes, let’s hope so.
8 replies on “Let”
Don’t let’s argue? I’ve never heard of such phrase. How often do people use it in the UK?
It is still quite common in BE. Less so in AE.
In AE, you also hear “let’s don’t ” I didn’t put that because I never use it, am not quite sure how to use it correctly and most people I respect think it is bad English 😉
Although I say it is not so common in AE, it is still used.
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Yes Mohamed. You can say ‘Don’t let’s argue’ and the alternative is ‘ Let’s not argue.’
It may be that you have never heard the phrase because you are not an argumentative person.
Best regards
Maxine
as ur commanding .so , we may use it as dn’t , let’s argue?
No comma. Don’t let’s argue. Or, more formally, let’s not argue.
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