The Imperative or Command Form
The imperative can seem difficult especially for GCSE students who may not have learnt the subjunctive. Once you know the present subjunctive every form is a subjunctive with the exception of the positive "tú" form which drops the "s"of the indicative and the positive "vosotros" form which has its own rather peculiar "ad, ed, id" endings which you add to the stem. See the table below which uses the verb "hablar" by way of an example:
Positive command Negative command
Tú form (familiar) habla no hables
Vd form (polite) hable no hable
Nosotros form (let’s!) hablemos no hablemos
Vosotros form (familiar) hablad no habléis
Vds (polite plural) hablen no hablen
Remember that some verbs have a special form for the positive "tú" form:
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Poner pon
Hacer haz
Ir ve or more usually vete (note also "let's go" vámonos is a special form)
Salir sal
Ser sé
Decir di
Tener ten
Venir ven
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The "vosotros" positive command form is sometimes replaced in colloquial Spanish by the infinitve. Eg Chicos subir en seguida y arreglar todo
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Note too that the "vosotros" positive command form drops the "d" in reflexive verbs
amigos sentaos por favor
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Pronouns
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These are added to the end of positive commands
¡Dame la llave!
¡Dile lo que ha pasado!
¡¡Mándamelos por favor!
¡Chicos hacedlo ahora!
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But they go before negatives
¡No me des la llave!
¡No le diga lo que ha pasado!
¡No me los mandes por favor!
¡Chicos no lo hagéis!
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Test yourself with this exercise
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