Spanish imperative mood

In English, one can say “Do it!” or “Don’t do it!” In Spanish, one can say so too. The imperative mood is used to give commands, orders, instructions etc. The imperative mood exists for these pronouns only: Tú, Usted, Nosotoros, Vosotros, and Ustedes. And it has different affirmative and negative forms.

Let’s conjugate an –AR verb in the Imperative mood.

ESPERAR – to wait, to hope;

And one –ER verb. –IR and –ER verbs are conjugated the same in the imperative mood.

COMPRENDER – to understand

Imperative mood can be used:

For reflexive verbs, one must add an appropriate reflexive pronoun.

LEVANTARSE – to get up:

Also, the dative or accusative pronouns are added after ending in the affirmative form, but not in the negative:

Comprendelo – find it (command Tú)

No lo comprendas – don’t understand it

Esperadme por favor – wait me please (command Vosotros)

No me esperad pof favor – don’t wait me please

Also, there are irregular verbs too. First of all, we have to consider SER and IR, because they are the most irregular two:

SER – to be

IR – to go

*-VAMOS is equivalent of English “Let’s” or “Let’s go”.

Rules for other irregular verbs:

The affirmative form of VOSOTROS is always regular for all verbs.

Irregular affirmative commands TÚ of these verbs should just be memorized:

Decir – (Tú) di

Salir – (Tú) sal

Hacer –(Tú) haz

Poner – (Tú) pon

Tener – (Tú) ten

Venir – (Tú) ven

For verbs that have a change in stem in present tense, for example:

Encontrar – to find, Yo encuentro – I find, stem ENCUENTR-

The imperative form will have this change too, apart from Nosotros and Vosotros commands:

And for the verbs that end in –GO or –ZCO at conjugation with YO in present tense, for example:

Salir – to leave, Yo salgo – I leave, stem SALG-

Parecer – to look, Yo parezco – I look, stem PAREZC-

The affirmative commands USTED, NOSOTROS, USTEDES, and all negative commands will have this stem.

Conjugate these regular verbs:

Quedar – to stay/to remain, Llevar – to carry/to bring, Dejar – to abandon/to leave, Mirar – to watch/to look at, Recibir – to receive, Existir – to exist, Entrar – to enter, Considerar – to consider, Presentar – to present, Crear – to create, Levantarse – to get up, Permitir – to permit, Irse – to leave

And these irregular ones:

With stem change: Dormir – to sleep, Jugar – to play, Entender – to understand, Pensar – to think, Cerrar – to close.

With –go/zco: Parecer – to look like, Aparecer – appear, Oír – to hear, Desaparecer – to disappear.

Examples:

¡No te vayas! – don’t leave!

¡Escáchame! – Listen me!

Llevenlo (ustedes) aquí por favor, tengo que comprobarlo – Bring it here please, I have to check it

Haz esta tarea en mí lugar – do this task instead of me

¡No parece una idiota! – don’t look like an idiot!

¡Vota por ese candidato en las elecciones! – vote for this candidate in the elections!

¡Vamos a bailar! – let’s dance!

¡Vayamos a la fiesta! – let’s go to the party?

Para comprenderlo, lee este libro – In order to understand it, read that book

¡Haz algo para mí! – do something for me!

Hablad con ellos, quizás dirán que nececitáis – speak with them, maybe they will say what you need

Practice with these words:

Sofá – sofa, Silla – chair, Pared – wall, Bañera – bath, Hijo – son, Hija – daughter, Madre – mother, Padre – father, Hombre – man, Mujer – woman/wife, Tiempo – time, Tarjeta de crédito – credit card, Banco – bank, Moneda – coin, Contador – accountant, Posible – possible, Imposible – impossible, Famoso – famous, Solo – single/alone, Probable – probable, Bajo – low, Limpio – clean, Medio – middle, Viejo – old, Joven – young, Nuevo – new, Vacío – empty.

Exercises

Conjugate verbs in imperative mood

1. ¡                  a las ocho! (LEVANTARSE – to get up, command TÚ) – Get up at eight o’clock!
2. ¡No  la puerta por favor! (CERRAR – to close, command USTED) – Don’t close the door please!
3. ¡No os  hoy! (IRSE – to leave, command USTEDES) – Don’t leave today!
4. ¡  con nosotros! (JUGAR – to play, command VOSOTROS) – Play with us!
5. ¡ a la fiesta! (IR – to go, command NOSOTROS) – Let’s go to the party!
6. ¡No  nada! (DECIR – to say, command TÚ) – Don’t say anything!
7. ¿ algunos amigos? (LLAMAR – to call, command NOSOTROS) – Let’s call some friends?
8. Tengo una solicitud para ti,  hoy por favor (AYUDAR – to help, command TÚ) – I have a request for you, help her please today
9. ¡Niños, a la casa por el almuerzo! (CORRER – to run, command VOSOTROS) – Kids, run home for lunch!
10. ¡ el teléfono! (CARGAR – to charge, command USTED) – Charge the phone!
11. ¡ esto! (DAR – to give, command TÚ) – Give me this!

Answers

a: levántate, b: cierre, c: vayan, d: jugad, e: vamos, f: digas,

g: llamamos, h: ayúdale, i: corred, j: carga, k: dame