What the imperative does
The imperative gives commands, makes requests and offers advice. English has exactly one form, speak!, whether you talk to one person or a room full. Spanish picks a form depending on who you address. Here are the two informal ones: tú (one person) and vosotros (several people, in Spain).
How to form them
The tú command is the he/she form of the present tense, unchanged. It feels back to front at first: to tell you what to do, you borrow the form that belongs to he and she. Stem changes stay: cerrar → ¡Cierra!.
tú
English has no separate plural you; Spain does, and its command is easy: take the infinitive and swap the final -r for -d. It works the same way for all three verb families.
vosotros
hablar, comer, escribir
| Infinitive | tú | vosotros |
|---|---|---|
| hablar | ¡habla! | ¡hablad! |
| comer | ¡come! | ¡comed! |
| escribir | ¡escribe! | ¡escribid! |
When you use it
One thing to unlearn: a bare imperative sounds blunt in English, so you soften it into could you… or would you mind…. Spanish does not read it that way. An imperative plus por favor, or just a friendly tone, is the normal, perfectly polite way to ask for something.
Commands and instructions
¡Cierra la puerta!
Close the door!
¡Sigue todo recto!
Go straight on!
¡Escribid vuestro nombre aquí!
Write your name here!
Requests
¡Espera un momento, por favor!
Wait a moment, please!
¡Hablad más despacio, por favor!
Speak more slowly, please!
Advice
¡Descansa un poco!
Get some rest!
¡Estudiad para el examen!
Study for the exam!
Attaching pronouns
English keeps the pronoun as a separate word (help me). Spanish welds it onto the end of the verb: one word, no hyphen. The stressed syllable stays where it was, so the longer word often needs a written accent (ayuda → ayúdame).
¡Ayúdame!
Help me!
¡Levántate!
Get up!
¡Cómelo!
Eat it!
