hortatives

Hortatives are statements that urge or encourage action, often expressing inclusive exhortation for a group to act. In linguistic terms, hortative mood or hortative constructions convey a wish or command about collective action, usually in the first-person plural. They are distinct from imperatives, which address a specific individual or group with direct commands, and from subjunctive or optative forms that may express wishes rather than calls to action.

English commonly expresses hortatives with the particle let, especially in the form Let us ...: “Let us begin,” “Let there be peace.” The subject is typically inclusive “we.” Negative forms exist: “Let us not forget.” Some languages have a dedicated hortative or exhortative mood; others use subjunctive or jussive forms. In Classical Greek, the 1st-person plural subjunctive serves a hortative function; in Hebrew, the cohortative form is used for exhortation in the first person. Other languages rely on imperative or volitional forms with modals to express a similar force.

Function and usage: hortatives express solidarity and motivate collective action, often in formal, religious, or ceremonial speech. They can soften commands, making them inclusive rather than authoritarian. The term derives from Latin hortari “to exhort” and is used in descriptive grammars to classify moods and illocutionary forces.