Quote Originally Posted by puigh View Post
Can someone explain to me why "поехали!" means "let's go!" although the literal translation is "(we/you/they) went" (if I'm not mistaken).
Why does one use "поехали!" and not "поедем!"?
When you say in English 'here goes!' it literally means 'здесь едет', but the meaning is close to 'поехали'. Such words express modality rather than literally mean something. 'Поехали' is something like 'let's go, let's start, let it roll' , but the Russian past tense is used here to express inducement, wish.