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A: Will your friend come to the party tomorrow?

B: Let me ask him.

I'm having trouble translating "let" here. Should I use "lassen" as follows?

A: Wird dein Freund morgen zur Party kommen?

B: Lass mich ihn fragen.

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  • Answers with "Lass" are possible ("Lass mich mal nachhören" or "Lass mich das mal gerade klären") but the specific wording "Lass mich ihn fragen" sounds weird.
    – Hagen von Eitzen
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 16:38

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Your option works, but is not really idiomatic. A more idiomatic thing to say would be:

Ich frag' ihn mal.

Ich muss ihn mal fragen.

mal might also be replaced by a specific time: gleich, heute abend, ... If you are B and on the phone with said friend and A throws in the question, you might also say:

Moment, ich frag' ihn mal grade.

grade indicates that you are going to do it now, you might also use this sentence when you are about to pick up your phone and call or text.

I am sure there are more possibilities, I'll add them as soon as they come to my mind again.

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    The version of OP would be idiomatic if you were on the phone and the friend in question is in the kitchen... then you could say "Lass mich ihn mal fragen" implying that you'll put down the phone for a second
    – Emanuel
    Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 22:34
  • @Emanuel: Hm, might be a regional thing, but I don't think I ever heard or said this sentence in that or a similar context. Only "Lass uns ihn doch mal grad fragen.", but that is something different.
    – fifaltra
    Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 22:44
  • Lass mich ihn fragen is surely less common that fifaltras alternatives but it is used. Additionally, one would fully understand the sentence. Maybe, one would think of Lass mich ihn mal fragen as too high register for casual spoken language.
    – Toscho
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 8:43
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    My guess is that we avoid using the "lass mich" construct if it is followed by another pronoun, because that would give us two pronouns in a row. It causes somewhat awkward prosody.
    – elena
    Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 9:53
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Your assumption is absolutely correct!

Of course you can also use something like

Ich muss ihn erst fragen.

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