verbs - Does -ou / -you / -mashou conjugation have a negative form?

Does the -ou / -you / -mashou (the "let's X") form have a negative counterpart? For example, how do I say "let's not X" for the following?:

• 行こう



• 食べよう


• 寝ましょう

As far as I can remember, the Japanese courses I took in college did not teach me the negative of this form. Does it even exist? If it does not exist, how do you say "let's not X" in Japanese?

Answer

The -ou/-you form does have a negative counterpart, but it's considered rather literary, and in any case never used in a cohortative meaning ("Let's X"). That form is the なかろう form, e.g.: 食べなかろう, which means "[He/I/etc.] probably wouldn't eat." and is equivalent to the more colloquial form "食べないだろう".

I think the most common simple way to express the meaning of "Let's not X" in Japanese is:

• 行かないね。


• 食べませんね。

Another option is to use a compound expression such as Xするのはやめる (which literally means "stop doing X") or Xないことにする (which literally means "Choose not to do X"). For instance:

• 行くのはやめよう。


• 行かないことにしよう。


• 食べるのはやめましょう。


• 食べないことにしましょう。

There are a quite few more possible combination such as Xないようにしよう, Xないでおこう, Xことはやめておこう, etc. Each has a slightly different nuance, so there's no direct equivalent of the positive form, but rather many different ways to express the negated idea.