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I have been watching some anime recently and I often hear people say にげよ (逃げよ
in kanji maybe?) and it is usually translated as "(Let's) escape!".

I want to know why it is translated this way. According to my knowledge, 逃げ is
the 連用形 of 逃げる, to escape. And よ is a sentence ending particle that adds
little meaning to the sentence. IMO, "(Let's) escape!" should be something
like 逃げろ. Does this mean that 連用形 can sometimes replace the imperative form? I
have never heard anyone say 書き！ or 食べ！ to give commands.

Or did my ears not work properly and mistook the ろ as a よ?
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renyōkei imperatives volitional-form
Why does 逃げよ mean 'Escape!"?
In Japanese Grammar,We have a Volitional Pattern. 逃げます is a Group 2 Verb. So
as a rule we conjugate as 逃げよう(add) よう means Let's Escape. Other Verb is 食べよう
let's eat.

forms Group 1

買います － 買おう let's buy

Group 2

浴びよう let's take shower

Group 3

勉強しよう let's study

Try to Search Volitional Pattern
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2017-02-16T11:58:16.347
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Wasn't it 逃げよ **う** (with the last vowel elongated) that you actually heard?

Then that's what's called the [**volitional-
form**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_verb_conjugation#Volitional_.28Presumptive.2C_Hortative.29)
of a verb. You can create it by replacing the last る with よう for vowel-stem
(aka ichidan or ru-) verbs, or by replacing the last u-vowel with the o-vowel
equivalent and adding う for consonant-stem (aka godan or u-) verbs. Its
primary meaning is "Let's ～" and "I'm going to ～".

  * [What Does the "Volitional" Really Mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/36505/5010)
  * [Questions tagged with `volitional-form`](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/volitional-form)
  * [Desire and Suggestions](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/desire.html)

The sentence-end particle よ (as in そうだよ, 楽しいよ) has nothing to do with the
volitional-form. (It doesn't end with よ in the first place.)

* * *

In fact there is also 逃げよ (without the elongated vowel), which is the
[**archaic imperative
form**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Japanese_language#Conjugation_table)
of 逃げる (which was [逃ぐ](http://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E9%80%83%E3%81%90) in
classical Japanese, strictly speaking). The meaning is "(You must) escape!"
This is much more rarer and never heard in today's ordinary conversations. But
you may occasionally hear 逃げよ from a stereotyped pompous noble person, a
ninja, a samurai, or a 1000-year-old demon in various fictional works.

* * *

**EDIT:** @kroki's comment reminded me that 逃げよう can be sometimes shortened to
逃げよ in very casual conversations. Casual/colloquial ("let's") 逃げよ is
pronounced as にげよ{LHH}, whereas the archaic/pompous/literary 逃げよ is pronounced
as にげよ{LHL} (like にげろ{LHL}).
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