El imperativo

Commands in Spanish

T commands
In English we use a lot of commands. In Spanish
they do as well.
Where do we hear a lot of commands in English
Our parents or other authority figures say a lot of
commands

La formacin de los mandatos

How do we form a t command?
Conjugate the verb into the t form and drop the s
from its ending.
*Looks like the (l, ella form)
For example:
T habla
These are commands. They look
T corre
like the he/she/ it form in the
T escribe
positive context.

Irregular verbs in t
positivo
Like any verb conjugation there are always
exceptions to the rules. Here are the irregulars
what you will just have to memorize.
decir (to say),
di
hacer (to make or do),
haz
ir (to go),
ve
poner (to put),
pon
salir (to leave),
sal
ser (to be),
s
tener (to have),
ten
venir (to come),
ven

Reflexive postitive t commands

When you have a reflexive verb in the positive
way of talking in command format you attach the
ending to the conjugated verb.(conjugate like a
normal command)
Examples:
Duchate (ducharse)
Levantate (levantarse)
Sientate (sentarse)

Prctica con el positivo

Conjugate the following verbs into t postive
commands.
Cocinar
Escribir
Escuchar
Correr
Ir
decir
Hacer
Poner
Venir
Tener
Llamarse
levantarse

Negative commands
For negative commands conjugate the verb
normally into the t form (including the s), put a
no in front of the verb, Change the ending to
the opposite ending.
If the verb ends in an ar use er/-ir endings
If the verb ends in er/-ir use ar endings.

Ejemplos:
Escribir
Negative command no escribas

Comer
Negative command no comas

Cantar
Negative command no cantes

Irregular negative t commands

The irregular verbs follow a pattern mainly. You
use the I form of the verb in present tense and
change the ending to be the opposite ending
Ejemplos:

Tener tengo no tengas

Decir digono digas
Venirvengo no vengas
Poner pongo no pongas
Salir salgo no salgas
Hacerhago no hagas

Complete irregulars
There are some you will just have to remember
because they dont follow the same pattern.
Ir
Present tense voy
Negative command no vayas

Saber
Present tense s
Negative command no sepas

Ser
Present tense soy
Negative command no seas

Reflexive negative verbs

Conjugate the same as a regular negative verb
(opposite ending) and put the pronoun in front of
the verb.
Example:
Levantarse
No te levantes

Dormirse
No te duermas

Practice
Negative commands

No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

correr
beber
tener
ser
hablar
cocinar
escribir
nadar
ir
hacer
saber

-car, -gar, -zar verbs

Verbs that end in car, -gar, -zar have an
orthographic change (spelling change)
sometimes.
Practicar
tocar
Jugar
Pagar
Empezar
Almorzar

C
qu
G
* gu
Only when
Zc
the
next
letter is an

Write the following in negative t

commands
Practicar

No practiques

tocar

No toques

Jugar

No juegues

Pagar

No pagues

Empezar

No empieces

Almorzar

No almuerces

Indirect and direct object pronouns

Affirmative commands with object pronouns: with
an affirmative command, the object pronoun(s)
will be attached directly to the end of the verb in
its imperative form.
estdialo!
Hazme un favor
Note that the original stress will be retained. In
spanish words that end with a vowel or n, or s,
the natural stress will fall on the next to last
syllable . When the addition of an object pronoun
(or pronouns) affects the original stress you will
add an accent mark.
Cmelo
dgame

Indirect and direct object pronouns

continued
When 2 object pronouns are involved remember
RID
Reflexive
Indirect
Direct
In other words a reflexive pronoun will precede an
indirect or direct pronoun, and an indirect pronoun
will precede a direct pronoun. If both indirect and
direct pronouns begin with the letter l the
indirect will change to se
Dmelo = tell it to me
Cmpratelo = buy it for yourself
Dselo = Give it to him

Indirect and direct object pronouns

Negatives
Negative commands with object pronouns: With a
negative command, the object pronoun(s) will
precede the verb in its imperative form. The
object pronoun will be independent of the verb.
When there are 2 object pronouns, The RID rule
applies.
No me mires =dont look at me
No lo hagas= dont do it
No se lo digas = dont tell it to him
No los compres = dont buy them

Nosotros Commands
We commands in English mean lets
How do we form the commands? Its very
simple nosotros form in present tense but with
the opposite endings
Ejemplos:
hablar hablemos
Comer comamos

Nosotros commands
Reflexive verbs
Just like with t commands we attach the pronoun at the
end of the verb.
Levantarse levantemos levantmonos
Despertarse despertemos despertmonos
* notice that there are accent marks when you add the
nos to the verb.

Stem changing verbs

Stem changing (-ar/-er) verbs do not change
For example
Cerramos lets close the door

Stem changing ir verbs change the e-i or o-u

For example
No durmamos lets not sleep
Prefiramos lets prefer (preferir)

Practice
Make the following verbs into nosotros
commands.
1. Cantar
2. Escribir
3. Dormirse
4. Gritar
5. Irse
6. Nadar

Negative nosotros commands

Negative commands also use the opposite
endings.
The no is still in front of the verb and the verb is
in the nosotros form then change the ending to be
its opposite.
Example: comer
No comer no comamos
What does this mean for the irregulars?

Irregular nosotros
commands
There are only a few irregulars for this
conjugation.
Infinitive
positive
negative
Ir
vamos
no vayamos
Ser
seamos
no seamos
Saber
sepamos
no sepamos

More irregulars
The other irregulars are the same as the ones
from the negative t commands. Use the present
tense yo form of the irregulars and add the
opposite endings
decir (to say),
digamos
hacer (to make or do),
hagamos
poner (to put),
pongamos
salir (to leave),
salgamos
tener (to have),
tengamos
venir (to come),
vengamos

Reflexive negative commands

Just like with tu commands in the negative
reflexive the no and the pronoun come before the
verb.
* still using opposite ending because it is negative.
Ejemplos
levantarse_ no nos levantemos.

Practiquemos
Write the following in Spanish
1. Lets practice (practicar)
2. Lets wake up (despertarse)
3. Lets buy (comprar)
4. Lets not play (no jugar)
5. Lets go (irse)
6. Lets stand up (levantarse)
7. Lets not start (no empezar)
8. Lets drive (manejar)
9. Lets not sleep. (no dormirse)

Indirect and direct object pronouns

(me, te, lo, la, nos, los, las) D.O
(me, te, le, nos, les) I.O
They are attached to the end of a positive
command and placed before a negative
command.
For example: Lets buy them
Comprmoslos
No los compremos
RID rule still applies if there are more than one
pronoun

Ustedes Commands
Use the ustedes form from the present tense to
make the commands and add the opposite
endings.
Hablar
hablen
Vivir
vivan
Beber beban

Irregular uds commands

Only if the yo form is irregular in the present tense
Ponerpongan
Decir digan

Other irregulars

Ir vayan
Ser sean
Dar den
Ver vean
Saber sepan

IO and DO pronouns
In the positive way of talking we add them onto
the end of the verb. (attached)
Denmelo
Abranlas
Comprenlos

Ustedes Commands
Reflexive verbs
Use the reflextive pronoun se to signify that it is
the uds form.
You form the verb by conjugating the verb into the
uds form and then add the se on the end of the verb
like the t and nosotros form.
Dormirse duermanse
Levantarse levantense

Negative Ustedes Commands

In the negative you change the endings like what
we have been doing.
Tener
No tengan

Comer
No coman

Reflexive negative commands

Again like we already know the negative
command gets the opposite ending and the
pronoun goes in front of the verb along with a no.
No se duerman
No se duchen
No se cepillen

Usted Commands
For regular verbs,to form an affirmative or a
negative command do the following:
1. take the present tense yo form
2. drop the o ending (or oy ending
3. for ar verbs add an e for er/ir verbs add an a
dont forget the spelling change for car gar- and
zar
Irregulars:
ir vaya
Saber sepa
Sersea

Practica Usted
Commands

Fly__________________________
Return_________________________
Eat____________________________
Give___________________________

Give it to me_____________________________
Dont wait for us ___________________________
Sit down __________________________
Put it there __________________________
Know it____________________________
Go away___________________________