The Imperative Mood in Spanish is used to give commands, requests, or instructions directly to someone. It’s a vital part of everyday communication, ensuring you can tell people what to do (or not to do!) clearly and efficiently.
- Used for commands, requests, and instructions.
- Directly addresses the listener(s).
- Has both affirmative (do something) and negative (don't do something) forms.
- Only exists for present and immediate actions—no past or future forms.
- Different verb forms for tú, usted, vosotros, and ustedes.
Imperative forms are for tú, usted, vosotros, and ustedes. There is no 'yo' form.
Affirmative Commands
The affirmative imperative commands are used to tell someone to do something. They change according to the subject (tú, usted, vosotros, ustedes) and have specific conjugation rules for regular and irregular verbs.
- Used for direct, positive commands.
- Different endings for each subject:
- tú (usually verb stem + -a/-e),
- usted (subjunctive form),
- vosotros (remove -r from infinitive, add -d),
- ustedes (subjunctive plural).
- Examples: habla (tú), hable (usted), hablad (vosotros), hablen (ustedes).
habla (tú), hable (usted), hablad (vosotros), hablen (ustedes) are correct.
Sal, Ven, Di, Haz are irregular 'tú' commands for salir, venir, decir, hacer.
Negative Commands
Negative commands tell someone not to do something and are formed using the subjunctive mood for all subjects (including tú and vosotros).
- Used to tell someone not to do something.
- Formed with the present subjunctive for all subjects:
- tú: no + subjunctive (vosotros form),
- usted: no + subjunctive,
- vosotros: no + subjunctive,
- ustedes: no + subjunctive.
- Example with hablar:
- (tú) no hables,
- (usted) no hable,
- (vosotros) no habléis,
- (ustedes) no hablen.
Negative commands use subjunctive: no hables, no hable, no habléis, no hablen.
No comas, no coma, no comáis, no coman are correct negative commands.
Conclusion
The Spanish imperative mood is essential for telling people what to do (or not to do), with distinct forms for affirmative and negative commands across different subject pronouns.
- Use affirmative commands for positive instructions and negative commands for prohibitions.
- Match the verb form to the correct subject (tú, usted, vosotros, ustedes).
- Remember that negative commands always use the subjunctive mood.