The words “leave” and “let’s do” are often confused because they sound the same, but the difference is important. “Leave” means “to allow”, while “let’s” is a contraction of “we do”. The difference between “lets” and “let’s” matters in writing, but not in speech. Contractions make sentences flow more smoothly, but both contracted and expanded forms are correct. Use “let’s” only if you mean “let us”.
The words “leave” and “let’s do” are very commonly confused because they sound exactly the same. The difference exists only on paper, but the difference is important. The word “leave” is a verb, or action word, meaning “to allow”. The word “do” is a contraction meaning “we do”. The word “leave” also has other meanings, while “we do” is just the contraction of “we do”. The difference between “lets” and “let’s” doesn’t matter during verbal communication, as both words sound identical, but in written English the difference between “lets” and “let’s” is important and worth knowing.
Some examples help clarify the difference between “let’s” and “let’s”.
John lets the dog out every morning.
We go to the supermarket for chips and soda.
In the first sentence, John is performing an action; he’s letting the dog out, but he does it in the present tense. Since John is not first person (me) or second person (you), this means that he is third person (he, she, it, or a proper name). The word “lets” is therefore the third person singular of the verb “let”.
In the second sentence, the contraction, or abbreviated form, of the words “we do” is used. If you replace “let’s” with the expanded form, the sentence reads like this:
We go to the supermarket for potatoes and chips.
The meaning does not change; words are simply shortened to make the sentence flow more smoothly and to make the sentence easier to say aloud. The difference between “let’s” and “let’s” becomes apparent when considering contractions in general, such as the following:
He didn’t contract no, as in “John didn’t know where the dog went.”
Couldn’t contract to couldn’t, like “I couldn’t hear the speaker over all the background noise”.
She should have had contracts, as in “Tracy should have brought the money for the entrance fee.
It’s about contracts for it. For example, “It’s going to rain today, so I should bring my umbrella to work.”
If you use the long form in any of the above examples, the meaning of the sentence remains the same, but the sentence reads differently, often more fluently. Both contracted and expanded forms of words are acceptable and correct to use in the sentence. The basic rule of thumb for remembering the difference between “let’s” and “let’s” is to use “let’s” only if you mean “let us”.
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