The imperative: choose the addressee, polarity and regional form
CEFR B1
What you will learn
- Choose a command form by addressee, number, formality and regional system.
- Contrast affirmative tú/vosotros commands with negative commands formed from the subjunctive.
- Attach clitics to affirmative commands and place them before negative commands with required accents.
The idea
Imperatives address tú, usted, nosotros, vosotros or ustedes. Spanish does not have a first-person singular command because a speaker cannot issue a command to yo as a separate addressee. Before conjugating, fix three variables: who receives the instruction, whether it is affirmative or negative, and which plural address system the context uses.
All negative commands use the present subjunctive: no comas, no hable, no salgáis, no vayan. That is why an irregular short affirmative such as haz switches to no hagas.
Usted and ustedes already use subjunctive-shaped forms in the affirmative, so polarity changes the position of no and any pronouns, not the verb paradigm.
Complete regular command system
| addressee | hablar + | hablar − | comer + | comer − | vivir + | vivir − |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tú | habla | no hables | come | no comas | vive | no vivas |
| usted | hable | no hable | coma | no coma | viva | no viva |
| nosotros / nosotras | hablemos | no hablemos | comamos | no comamos | vivamos | no vivamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | hablad | no habléis | comed | no comáis | vivid | no viváis |
| ustedes | hablen | no hablen | coman | no coman | vivan | no vivan |
Eight irregular affirmative tú commands
| infinitive | affirmative tú | negative tú follows the subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| decir | di | no digas |
| hacer | haz | no hagas |
| ir | ve | no vayas |
| poner | pon | no pongas |
| salir | sal | no salgas |
| ser | sé | no seas |
| tener | ten | no tengas |
| venir | ven | no vengas |
How it sounds
- Leed el primer párrafo. / Lean el primer párrafo.In most of Spain, familiar plural selects vosotros. In most of Spanish America, familiar plural selects ustedes. The lexical instruction stays the same while the address paradigm changes.
Your turn
Two or three, to check that the bit above landed.
Use the sealed blue box. ___ la caja azul. (abrir, tú, affirmative)
Abre — Affirmative tú uses the third-person present form of abrir: abre.
Use the cable warning and address ustedes. No ___ los cables. (tocar)
toquen — A negative ustedes command uses third-person plural present subjunctive. Tocar changes c to qu before e: toquen.
In the Spain vosotros system, use the two keys. ___ las dos llaves en la mochila. (guardar, affirmative)
Guardad — Affirmative vosotros replaces the infinitive -r with -d: guardar becomes guardad. The regional system is stated explicitly.
What your own language pushes you to say
Wrong No haz ruido y no ven tarde.
Right No hagas ruido y no vengas tarde.
Negative tú commands use present-subjunctive forms, including irregular stems.
Once it makes sense
Practise this: Giving orders, and being polite about itThe present subjunctive: build the form before choosing the moodObject pronouns: track the thing and the recipientReal si-clauses: conditions the speaker still treats as possible