A father is talking to his kid about their plans tomorrow and says,

> けんしんくん、お父さんと一緒に買いに行きましょうか？

Why not:

> けんしんくん、お父さんと買いに行きましょうか？

(The sentence is supposed to say, "Kenshin, would you like to go to shopping
with dad?" Obviously, not a one-to-one translation)

Aren't both sentences the same? I can't see the second sentence **not**
relaying the idea of "together". So what does the 一緒に do exactly? It seems, to
me, that the sentence doesn't really need it.
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2012-07-02T22:52:43.070
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2012-08-02T07:52:31.857
2012-08-01T12:41:18.753
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question
usage set-phrases
Why is 一緒に needed when it's already clear two people will be together?
Why is `together` "needed" in the English expression

> go shopping together with dad

when you can say

> go shopping with dad

Doesn't the latter already convey the idea of "together"?
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2012-07-02T23:00:51.360
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At the coffee shop after practice, 行こうか is a perfectly good sentence if the
highest ranking person says it. Everyone will get up and leave. In other
situations, _do you want to go home_ is very different from _do you want to go
home with me._ Japanese can drop the _you_ , but still needs the 一緒 (but not
the me/us/them). I remember hearing a lot of 一緒に without names or pronouns. I
know this is an example sentence, but I wonder if since 一緒に is so often
required in this kind of question, it isn't automatically used and then names
are added for emphasis. By 'then added', I mean some kind of mental process
that assembles the sentence before speaking, not final word order.
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2012-07-31T06:14:24.700
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"一緒に" gives an impression that Kenshin and his father do shopping together all
the way through. Even if you don't say "一緒に", the sentence would mean the same
basically.

However, it would also be taken as "I would go shopping with you. You drive,
and drop me at the entrance of the department, you do shopping for your own, I
do mine. Let's get back together at the entrance when we both finish
shopping." ...Because you didn't mention "together" for shopping.

I guess this explanation would work the same in other languages through.
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2012-08-01T07:40:47.263
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> Aren't both sentences the same?

Probably not sentimentally. There's much more of a bond in the use of 一緒に.

Also, I think that it expresses ((with-me go) shopping) more than (go (with-me
shopping)).

> I can't see the second sentence not relaying the idea of "together". So what
> does the 一緒に do exactly? It seems, to me, that the sentence doesn't really
> need it.

In many languages, there are words that are often used, but are not necessary,
or not even meaningful. In this case, it is meaningful, but not necessary.
Sometimes, it's just a habit. Or some improper sentence that goes uncorrected
for it's perfectly understood. Just to tease you more, consider the sentence
"約10人ぐらいいました", which means "there are approximately around 10 people." Bad
English, very natural Japanese…

The notion of "need" you have needs to be loosened :)
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answer