The sentence below is taken from a light novel.
声をかけようかどうしようか迷っていたら、ほんの一瞬風が止んだ
I don't understand what 「かけようかどうしようか」 means. Is it an expression? This light novel sometimes omits kanji and I'm wondering if there should be kanji in here or not. I know that 「どうしようか」 is like “What should I do”, but I have no idea what 「かけようか」 is.
かける here would literally mean something like "to cast", but 声をかける is an expression in Japanese to mean "to greet someone", "to say something (to someone)", or even "to invite someone (to something)" and "to cheer someone up (in sports)".
It is actually rare to see it written in kanji. If you are to still write it, it would be 声を掛ける.
So, 声をかけようかどうしようか迷っていた roughly translates to "I was wondering if I should say something or not".
This is the volitional form of かける: in particular, this expression is 声をかける. It has several meanings, the most general being "to speak/call out to". It can also mean "to inform or let know".
So it's essentially just two questions in a row. There's no special pattern here. Depending on the context of the novel...
- [Should I say something? What should I do?]迷っていたら、ほんの一瞬風が止んだ
Also, in the phrase 声をかける, the かける is usually just written in kana, but if it were kanji, it would be 掛ける.
