Page 1 of 6 Figure It Out! Compra el libro! Compre el libro! Compren el libro! No compres el libro! No compre el libro! No compren el libro! Cómpramelo! Cómpremelo! Cómprenmelo! No me lo compres! No me lo compre! No me lo compren! Study the affirmative and negative command forms shown in the preceding short sentences. Can you discover the pattern and the relationship between the various commands? Introduction The verb forms that we ll discuss are commonly known as imperative or command forms, which can make them seem a bit harsh, as if they were used only to order people around. Actually, these forms are used both to command and to request, and they cover a range from very polite to very emphatic, depending on how you use them. Of course, most imperative verb forms are in the second person, since they re generally used to direct a command or request to the person being spoken to. So, first we'll review the informal imperative forms used to address an individual. After a brief mention of plural informal commands (the vosotros form), you ll learn how to direct a command or request to a person that you would address formally, and to a group of people. Finally, we ll briefly cover two special topics: first-person and third-person imperatives, and soft or very polite imperatives. Informal Imperatives An informal imperative is a command or request that you would make to a person that you would normally address as tú. For most verbs, the form used is identical to the thirdperson, singular, present indicative of the verb. In simpler terms, it s the verb that you would use after the subject él or ella in the ordinary present tense. For example: Comer come Hablar habla Come tu ensalada antes de comer el postre. Habla más despacio, por favor. The following eight Spanish verbs have special short form irregular imperatives: IRREGULAR INFORMAL IMPERATIVES INFINITIVE INFORMAL IMPERATIVE decir Di hacer Haz ir Ve poner Pon salir Sal ser Sé venir Ven tener Ten
Page 2 of 6 Here are some examples of these short imperatives. Remember: when imperatives have object pronouns, and when the command is affirmative (in other words, if you re telling someone to do something rather than NOT to do it), the pronouns are attached to the verb. Sal de aquí! Get out of here! Ponlo en la mesa! Put it on the table. Sé bueno y tráeme un dulce. Be good and bring me a candy. Dímelo cuando puedas. Tell it to me when you can. If the attached pronouns cause the stress to fall on the penultimate, or third-to-the-last, syllable (as in the case of dímelo), an accent mark must be placed accordingly. Plural Informal Commands. In Spain, special verb forms are used to give commands or instructions to a group of people that one would normally address as vosotros. Since the vosotros forms are not used in Latin America except in unusual circumstances (such as religious ceremonies), we will touch on them only briefly. The vosotros form of the imperative is created by simply replacing the r at the end of the infinitive with d. If the verb is reflexive and requires the pronoun os to be attached to the end, then the d is also dropped. For example: Tened misericordia de nosotros. Lavaos las manos. Have mercy on us. Wash your hands. (spoken to a group) Formal Imperatives To give a command, request, or instruction to a person that you would normally address as usted, use the third person, singular, present subjunctive form of the verb. In simpler terms, use the form that you would insert in the following sentence: Yo quiero que usted.. To give a command or request to a group of people, use the third person, plural, present subjunctive form of the verb. In other words, use the form that you would plug into the following sentence: Yo quiero que ustedes... In Latin America, the ustedes form of the imperative is used for directing commands to all groups, no matter what level of familiarity the speaker has with them. As with all affirmative imperatives (telling or asking someone to do something), if the verb requires object pronouns, these are attached to the end of the verb and an accent mark may be required to indicate the proper stress. Here are a few examples: Venga hoy al mediodía. Dígame la verdad. Traigan a sus amigos. Vaya a comer. Pónganmelos allá. Come today at noon. Tell me the truth. Bring your friends. Go and eat. Put them over there for me (you guys).
Page 3 of 6 Negative Imperatives In addition to being able to tell or ask one or more people to do something, you need to be able to tell them NOT to do it. In Spanish, going from an affirmative to a negative command can change the verb form and word order in the sentence quite a bit. Informal Negative Commands (tú). When you give a negative ( don t do ) command to someone that you would normally address as tú, you no longer use the affirmative command forms. Instead, you must use the second person, singular, present subjunctive form, preceded by no, of course. To put it more simply, use the form of the verb that you would put at the end of the sentence Yo no quiero que tú... For example: No tomes tanta leche. No vayas tan rápido. No me digas! Don t drink so much milk. Don t go so fast. Don t tell me! Formal Negative Commands (usted, ustedes). Use the same verb forms that you would use for an affirmative command, preceded by the word no. For example: No coma tan tarde. No diga esas cosas. No haga nada. Don t eat so late. Don t say those things. Don t do anything. Placement of Object Pronouns with Negative Commands. Unlike affirmative commands, you must place direct object, indirect object, and reflexive pronouns BEFORE a negative imperative verb rather than after it. In the following examples, each affirmative command is followed by the equivalent negative command. Take careful note of the position of the pronouns: Dime cómo sucedió. No me digas cómo sucedió. Ponlo en el estante. No lo pongas en el estante. Lávense las manos. No se laven las manos. Llévatelo. No te lo lleves. Tell me how it happened. Don t tell me how it happened. Put it on the shelf. Don t put it on the shelf. Wash your hands. Don t wash your hands. Take it with you. Don t take it with you.
Page 4 of 6 Imperatives in Other Persons First Person Plural. Can you give a command to yourself? Well, not exactly. But you can make a suggestion to a group of people in which you are included. In English, we usually use the word let s to do this: Let s eat now! There are several ways to express this concept in Spanish, but one of the most common is to use a first person plural imperative. To do this, just use the first person plural, present subjunctive form of the verb: Comamos ahora! If the verb is reflexive, drop the final s and add nos to give an affirmative command: Esforcémonos por terminar rápido. Let s make an effort to finish quickly. If the verb has other object pronouns, they can also be attached to the verb in an affirmative command: Démosle una gran sorpresa. Let s give him a big surprise. For negative first-person plural commands, any reflexive and other pronouns must go before the verb, as with all other imperatives: No nos perdamos. No les hagamos esperar. Let s not get lost. Let s not make them wait. The verb ir (and irse) is a special case. The first person imperative forms are vamos and vámonos. Vámonos de este lugar! Let's leave this place! Third Person. How can you express a command or request to someone that you re not even talking to? We do it indirectly, by expressing our desire concerning a third party to the person that happens to be listening to us at the time. In English, we do it with expressions such as: Have him... Tell him to... Let him... In Spanish, simply use the word que followed by the appropriate subjunctive form of the verb. Any object or reflexive pronouns must go before the verb. For example: Que empiece la fiesta. Que no nos meta en líos. Que vengan. No me importa. Softening Imperatives Let the party begin! Tell him not to get us into a mess! Let them come! I don t care.
Page 5 of 6 English-speaking students of Spanish often try to make virtually all commands and requests more polite by adding the phrase por favor. It isn t wrong to use this phrase, but there are other ways to make a request or a command. Here are a few: Use a form of poder. Just as in English we use can and could to soften requests, you can use poder in the conditional tense in Spanish to accomplish the same thing. The command or request is rephrased as a question: Podrías alcanzarme ese libro? Could you hand me that book? Podría leer ese párrafo de nuevo? Could you read that paragraph again? Use a polite tag. To soften a command in English, we sometimes add a tag phrase at the end, such as would you? or if you don t mind. Similar tags exist in Spanish: Sírveme un poco de pan, quieres? Serve me a little bread, would you? Ayúdame a levantar esta caja, puedes? Could you help me lift this box? Termina tu trabajo antes de regresar, está bien? (or OK?) Finish your work before you come back, all right? Use a form of querer. Instead of telling someone to do something, ask him or her if they WANT to do it. This is done in Spanish, of course, with the verb querer: Summary Quieres llevarle un mensaje al Sr. Gómez? Would you mind taking a message to Mr. Gómez? To form correct imperatives in Spanish, you must keep the following in mind: Singular or plural. Are you addressing one person or more than one person? Informal or formal. Are you giving the command or request to someone (or to a group) that you normally address as tú or to one or more people that you would address as usted? Affirmative or negative. Are you telling someone to do something or not to do something?
Page 6 of 6 These three variables affect the verb form chosen as well as the placement of any object pronouns. To review, study the following imperative, which means tell it to me (or don t tell it to me ), taken through various combinations of these variables: Dímelo Decídmelo Dígamelo Díganmelo singular, informal, affirmative plural, informal, affirmative (not used in Latin America) singular, formal, affirmative plural, formal, affirmative No me lo digas singular, informal, negative No me lo digáis plural, informal, negative (not used in Latin America) No me lo diga singular, formal, negative No me lo digan plural, formal, negative Imperative-like statements can be created for first person plural verbs and for third person verbs as well. These are formed from subjunctive verbs. Imperative forms can be softened in several ways, including the use of poder, querer, and sentence tags.