The imperative and German's three «you»: du, ihr, Sie
CEFR A2 · part 2
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
weil and dass: the clause where the verb goes to the endJoining two clauses with weil, dass, wenn or ob and sending the conjugated verb to the…in, auf, an…: the nine that take two cases depending on wo or wohinChoosing the case with a single question: if the sentence answers wohin —where to, there…The adjective in front of the noun: when -e and when -enGiving the adjective an ending when it sits in front of the noun, with the short rule…war, hatte, konnte: the past tense people do say out loudUsing in the past the eight verbs a German never puts into the Perfekt when speaking…Comparing in German: -er, als, and am -stenComparing two things and pointing out the top one, with German's three pieces: the -er…mich or mir, dich or dir: pronouns in the accusative and dativeReplacing anything already mentioned with a pronoun, in both cases, and placing it…The rule, in three lines
German has three ways of saying «you» and each has its own imperative. To a friend, du: drop the -st from the present form and the bare stem is left, Geh! Komm! Mach! To several friends, ihr: use the present form as it is, Geht! Kommt! To anyone you are not on first-name terms with, Sie: the infinitive with the pronoun after it, Gehen Sie! And one rule that surprises people: with du and ihr you do NOT use the pronoun; with Sie it is obligatory.
The usual slip. Putting the pronoun where it does not belong: Du geh nach Hause. With du and ihr the imperative takes no pronoun, and with Sie it takes one obligatorily, after the verb. The second mistake is being too familiar: in Germany you address an adult stranger as Sie, even a young one, and using du does not come across as friendly but as rude.
Why it catches you out. English has one «you» for everything, so this is the biggest jump of the four: you have to choose a level of formality on every single instruction, with no neutral option. The good news is that the du form is the simplest thing in German grammar —the bare stem, Geh!, Komm!, Mach!— and it matches English exactly.