Last week I learnt a useful Czech word – Šup! – which can mean Whoosh!, Go!, Move!, Hurry up! and similar, and Šup šup! means Chop-chop!
A more polite way to say the same thing is pojďme, which literally means “Let’s (do something)”. Here are some examples of usage:
– Pojďme na procházku = Let’s go for a walk
– Pojďme pěšky = Let’s walk
– Pojďme na to / Pojďme to udělat = Let’s do this
– Pojďme se na to podívat = Let’s take a look at it
– Pojďme spolupracovat = Let’s work together
– Pojďme přemýšlet = Let’s think
Sources: bab.la Dictionary and Slovnik.cz
Are there similar expressions in other languages?
Unsurprisingly Russian has “пойдем вместе”, which my Russian co-workers used all the time for “Let’s go [somewhere]”.
“пойдем” is the 1st person plural of “пойдти” = “go”. I don’t know how closely related it is to pojďme, or whether or not it can be used without a sense of traveling, like it seems pojďme can.
Indeed, “пойдем” is exactly the same form as “pojďme”.
In Polish, the corresponding form is : “pójdźmy”.
By the way, the infinitive form is “пойти”, not “пойдти”.
“пойдем вместе” means : “let’s go together”.
As an encouragement to do something, “пойдем” is often used with the particle “ка” : “пойдем-ка”,
and can be used in a range of circumstances, where it’s not necessarily a matter of going somewhere, but more of an urge to do something.
As a native speaker of French, I’d like to tell you about the expression : “allons” / “allez”.
“allons” is an exact translation of “let’s go”, and it can be used for most of the czech sentences
you give us, Simon.
– Pojďme na procházku = Allons nous promener
– Pojďme pěšky = Allons(-y) à pied
– Pojďme na to / Pojďme to udělat = Allons faire cela
– Pojďme se na to podívat = Allons regarder cela / allons jeter un coup d’oeil à cela
For the next two examples, I would merely use the imperative of the main verb :
– Pojďme spolupracovat = Travaillons ensemble / Collaborons
– Pojďme přemýšlet = Réfléchissons
In French, you can use “allons” as a normal form meaning “let’s go”, also as an urge to several
people including yourself.
“Allez” means usually “go!”, and is 2nd person plural imperative.
– Allez à Paris ! : Go to Paris!
– Allez-y ! : Go there!
But it can also have a loose meaning as an urge to do something, in the singular as well as in the plural, as an equivalent of English “come on!” :
– Allez, fais-le ! : Come on, do it! (come – plural, do – singular)
It can also give illogical sentences like :
– Allez, viens ! : Come on, come ! (as “allez” means “go”, and “viens” means “come”!…)