Translation of a Sentence

[Flamehearted]

Hi all,

Getting ready for JLPT and wonder if anyone can translate this sentence for me :

きょう　えきまえで　あおうと　ともだｔちと　やくそく　しました

Many thanks !

[grey]

My friend and I promised to meet in front of the station today.

And good luck with the JLPT! gambatte

[Flamehearted]

^^ Many thanks !

But I'm still confused - I thought to meet with is あう

What　Is　あおう？

[jkeyz15]

It is!

Au is used....just a different form. It's called "volitional form" and express a volition "towards" an action"

aou is the voltional form of au. deshou is volitional for desu, darou for da.

*also as a side note about a nuance*

Because of the de particle this implies you plan to meet there, but implies it may not be the final destination after you meet. If you use ni, it sounds like the opposite.
When ni and de can be used similarly here is what the nuances feel like, sorta....

o------>-------->---------->De------>--->
o-------->------------->------>----->Ni

[NickT]

あう　is the dictionary (plain form) of "to meet". あいます　is the polite form which also means "to meet" but is more polite.

あおう　is the plain volitional. You are probably more familiar with the polite volitional, あいましょう, which is usually translated as "lets meets". あおう　means basically the same thing except it is less polite, and used in casual conversation.

The other difference is that あいましょう　is only ever used at the end of a sentence, whereas あおう　can be used in the middle of a sentence (even a polite sentence) as a grammatical construct. This is how it is used in this sentence. The following と particle indicates that it is acting on the verb, やくそく　(to promise), so taken as a whole it means "promise to meet" or "arranged to meet"

It is the same with あう　and あいます. They have the same meaning, but only あう　can be used mid sentence in grammatical constructs.

[shungen]

日本語はこれ：
今日駅前で会おうと友たちと約束しました

英語はこれ：
I promised my friends to meet them in front of the station today.

どぞ～