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What kind of the grammar is shown by the group of two words "let us"? Is it a phrase or a predicate or a clause ... or something else?

Edwin Ashworth
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gete
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    It's an idiom. Originally it was an imperative, but now it's just an invitation, and it's always contracted as let's. Using the full form is unusual and draws attention to the construction, raising the formality. As to what part of speech it is, it's a verb that must be followed by an infinitive without to; the subject of the infinitive is first person plural inclusive, i.e, the speaker and the addressees (and maybe others). – John Lawler Jan 07 '21 at 15:59
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    @JohnLawler Well! Could we also use "let we" instead of "let us"? I feel that "let we" is incorrect. – gete Jan 07 '21 at 16:03
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    Too bad. Let us is correct, and *Let we is incorrect. Don't trust your feelings about what's "incorrect". – John Lawler Jan 07 '21 at 16:04
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    @EdwinAshworth: Yes, I apparently did. Apologies, and thanks. The us is the object of let and the subject of the infinitive following, so it's the right word in the right place, since direct objects and infinitive subjects are both sposta be objective (us) and not nominative (we). – John Lawler Jan 07 '21 at 16:11
  • Note that "Let us pray" is a very well established idiom in religious contexts. (And "Let us prey" is very well established as a pun.) – Hot Licks Jan 07 '21 at 17:14
  • "Let us" is not a constituent, but part of a larger one. The non-contracted "us" suggests that it's more than likely the ordinary "let" (as opposed to the imperative "let"), where the meaning is "allow", as in "They let us have our ball back", where "us" is object of the catenative verb "let". Alternatively, but less likely, it's part of a 1st person inclusive let-imperative construction where "let" is again a catenative verb with an NP object and a bare infinitival clause as second complement, as in "Let us get our ball back". – BillJ Jan 07 '21 at 17:36
  • Also informative is https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/237378/etymology-of-let-us-and-lets. – Xanne Jan 07 '21 at 20:38
  • "let us" in itself is a sentence fragment, i.e. a group of words that don't form a sentence or clause. You need to add a verb e.g. "let us go" to get a grammatical sentence. – Stuart F Jan 08 '21 at 15:42

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"Let" is a causative verb and it is used by the person who wants to ask politely for something. For example: Let us go, Let her go, Let him go, and let them go.

As you can see here, after "Let" the form of the object is in the objective case and the verb is all infinitive.

Let's is the short form of "Let us" and used when a person wants to ask for something to somebody, especially when the listener is recommend to do something together with the asker.

For example: Let's go home. Let's get out for a smoke, etc.

get sb to do something, have sb do something, help sb (to) do something, make sb do something, and let sb do something are causative.

gomadeng
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    I'm sorry, but that's not a good answer. You need to bring out the contrast between 1st person inclusive let-imperative clauses and non-imperative clauses with ordinary "let" (meaning "allow"). – BillJ Jan 08 '21 at 07:12