ませんか - won't you do ~? (invitation)

〜ませんか

Meaning

A polite invitation, literally asking "won't you do X?" but functioning as "would you like to?"

Explanation

Adding か to ません produces a soft invitation. Phrasing it as a negative question makes it gentler and less pushy than a direct request, leaving the listener an easy, natural way to decline if they want to.

Formation

Verb stem + ませんか

Examples

今晩、一緒に食事をしませんか。
こんばん、いっしょにしょくじをしませんか。
Would you like to have dinner together tonight?
映画を見に行きませんか。
えいがをみにいきませんか。
Would you like to go see a movie?

Grammar explanations and example sentences written for NihongoTech.