modality N5 essential polite teineigo (polite)

〜ませんか — won't you ~? (invitation)

〜ませんか・ませんか

Meaning

won't you ~? / would you like to ~? — a polite invitation to do something together

Phrased as a negative question because that makes it gentler than ましょう — it openly leaves the other person room to say no, so it feels like a real invitation rather than an assumption.

Key sentence

一緒いっしょにお茶ちゃを飲のみませんか。

Won't you have some tea with me?

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Verb (ます-stem)	V-ます → V-ませんか	行いきます → 行いきませんか

Examples

今度こんどの週末しゅうまつ、映画えいがを見みに行いきませんか。

Would you like to go see a movie this weekend?

よかったら、こちらに座すわりませんか。

If you'd like, won't you sit here?

少すこし休やすみませんか。

Shall we take a little break?

Easily confused with

ましょうましょう = 'let's ~', assuming you both agree; ませんか invites and still asks, so it's politer and easier to decline. 〜ましょうかましょうか offers your own help or proposes expecting a yes; ませんか extends an open invitation for the listener to join.

See 〜ませんか in real sentences

Jengo shows 〜ませんか the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled from published Japanese grammar references.

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