Does ‘Vas-y’ mean ‘Let’s go’ or ‘Go there’ or either, depending on context?

Question

I’ve seen both answers given in the space of half a hour. Does it depend on context or is this a mistake? Or am I mistaken? Merci.

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi Richard,
You would use 
Vas-y ! = Go on /Go ahead!
if you were addressing one person you say 'tu' to.
Allez-y! = Go on/ Go ahead!
to a person you say 'vous' to or a collection of people.
You would use 
Allons-y != Let's go!
If you are included in the group.
Hope this helps!

Jim Jones · Answer

Bonjour Richard,Taking "go there" first  --  This can be understood to be a command or order and therefore triggers the Imperative mood. "Tu" of l'impératif is va, but we have a syntactic problem if we try to express this as va-y because "y" is a vowel.So we have to use "vas-y" to avoid two vowels together for syntactic reasons."Let's go" is also expressed as "Vas-y". Perhaps a command, but with a softer register.Generally, I agree with your headline point with respect to context.Bonne journéeJim

Chris Wirt · Answer

Vas-y! -- Go there! Go ahead! Go on!On y va! -- Let's go!