11 El Imperativo / The Imperative (Ama; Amad; Ame; Amen)

El Imperativo / The Imperative (Ama; Amad; Ame; Amen)

The Imperative is used for giving orders. Examples in English would be “sit down” or “don’t run”. As these examples show, the imperative can be used to tell someone to do something, or not to do something. The following tables explain how to form the imperative. Personal pronouns are not used with the imperative.

ar  verbs – hablar  (to speak)

er  verbs – comer  (to eat)

ir  verbs – vivir  (to live)

There are several verbs that are irregular in the tú positive form. The following tables show the full imperative forms of these verbs.

ser – to be

ir – to go

hacer – to do / to make

decir – to say / to tell

tener – to have

poner – to put

venir – to come

salir – to go out

oír – to hear

Radical Changing Verbs in the Imperative

Radical changing verbs keep their radical change in the imperative in most forms. Depending on the verb, sometimes the radical change is dropped for vosotros / vosotras (both positive and negative). The following tables show some radical changing verbs in the imperative.

encontrar – to find

pedir – to ask for

Reflexive Verbs in the Imperative

Reflexive verbs can be tricky in the imperative. There are several steps you have to follow to conjugate them correctly. For the positive forms, follow these rules:

1. Take the main part of the verb (the part without the reflexive pronoun) and conjugate it in the imperative.
2. Add the appropriate reflexive pronoun at the end of the main verb part.
3. Add an accent to the last vowel before the imperative ending and reflexive pronoun. However, don’t put any accents on the vosotros / vosotras forms.
4. For the vosotros / vosotras forms, don’t add the d  that is found in non-reflexive imperative verb forms.

For the negative forms, conjugate the verb in the Present Subjunctive according to who is receiving the order, and put the appropriate reflexive pronoun in front of the verb and after no as you would do in most tenses.

lavarse – to wash oneself

levantarse – to get up

Some verbs are both radical changing verbs and reflexive verbs. All you have to do with these is combine the rules for these two types of verbs in the imperative.

acostarse – to go to bed