Spanish Imperative - Imperativo - Mandatos
The imperative is a verb mood used to give a command, either affirmative (Go!) or negative (Don't go!).
The Spanish imperative exists for 5 different grammatical people: tú, Ud., nosotros, vosotros, and Uds.
Espera a tu hermano. Wait for your brother. No escriba en su libro. Don't write in your book. Hablemos de otra cosa. Let's talk about something else. ¡No gritéis! Don't shout! Contesten las preguntas. Answer the questions.
Conjugations
The imperative for all commands for Ud., Uds., and nosotros and for negative commands for tú and vosotros are formed as follows:
Regular -AR verbs: Take the present tense of the verb and change the A at the beginning of the suffix to E.
Present tense Imperative(s) tú estudias no estudies Ud. estudia estudie, no estudie nosotros estudiamos estudiemos, no estudiemos vosotros estudiáis no estudiéis Uds. estudian estudien, no estudien
Regular -ER verbs: Change the E at the beginning of the suffix to A.
tú bebes no bebas Ud. bebe beba, no beba nosotros bebemos bebamos, no bebamos vosotros bebéis no bebáis Uds. beben beban, no beban
Regular -IR verbs:
- For tú, Ud., and Uds., change the E at the beginning of the suffix to A.
- Nosotros: Change the I at the beginning of the suffix to A.
- Vosotros: Change Í to ÁI.
tú abres no abras Ud. abre abra, no abra nosotros abrimos abramos, no abramos vosotros abrís no abráis Uds. abren abran, no abran
Notes:
- The imperative endings for -ER and -IR verbs are identical.
- Spanish imperative conjugations are the same as subjunctive conjugations.
Affirmative commands with tú and vosotros are conjugated a bit differently.
- Tú: Take the present tense and drop the final S: estudias --> estudia, bebes --> bebe, abres --> abre.
- Vosotros: Take the infinitive and replace the final R with a D: estudiar --> estudiad, beber --> bebed, abrir --> abrid.
