How do you form formal commands in Spanish?

Use the present subjunctive. The usted command is the third-person singular subjunctive (pase, coma, escriba); the ustedes command is the third-person plural subjunctive (pasen, coman, escriban). There is nothing new to learn if you already know the subjunctive - the formal command and the present subjunctive are the same forms. Both the affirmative and the negative use them, so no pase is just pase with a no in front.

Why do affirmative and negative formal commands look the same?

Because both are built from the subjunctive. Unlike the tú command, where the affirmative (habla) is its own form and only the negative (no hables) borrows the subjunctive, the usted and ustedes commands use the subjunctive in both directions. So the affirmative pase and the negative no pase share the same verb form, and the negative simply adds no in front: coman and no coman, siga and no siga. This makes the formal imperative the most economical command in the language.

Where do pronouns go in formal commands?

It depends on whether the command is affirmative or negative. With an affirmative command, object and reflexive pronouns attach to the end of the verb and usually force a written accent: siéntese (sit down), dígame (tell me), tráiganmelo (bring it to me). With a negative command, the pronouns sit before the verb, between the no and the verb: no se siente (don't sit down), no me lo traiga (don't bring it to me). Adding the no flips the pronoun from after the verb to before it.

Formal Commands: usted and ustedes

You spent the last three chapters building the present subjunctive for wishes, emotion and doubt. Here is the payoff. The formal imperative - the commands you give with usted and ustedes - is just the third-person subjunctive, pointed at the person in front of you. No new forms, no new endings.

This page assumes you can already build the subjunctive. If pase, coma, sea and vaya look unfamiliar, start with how to form the present subjunctive and come back.

The one rule: formal command = subjunctive

To command formally, take the present subjunctive in the third person and use it directly.

usted command = third-person singular subjunctive: pase (come in), coma (eat), escriba (write), siga (carry on).
ustedes command = third-person plural subjunctive: pasen (come in), coman (eat), escriban (write), sigan (carry on).

That is the whole rule for the affirmative. And here is the bonus that goes beyond the negative tú command: the negative formal command is the same form with a no in front. Where tú splits (habla but no hables), usted does not.

Pase. / No pase. (Come in. / Don't come in.)
Coman. / No coman. (Eat. / Don't eat.)
Firme aquí. / No firme todavía. (Sign here. / Don't sign yet.)

So the formal imperative has just one shape per person, used in both directions. The only thing the negative changes is adding the no and, as we'll see, where the pronouns sit.

The irregulars carry over

Because the formal command is the subjunctive, it inherits every subjunctive irregularity for free. The six true irregulars come straight across:

ser -> sea / sean (be): Sea puntual. (Be on time.)
ir -> vaya / vayan (go): Vaya con cuidado. (Go carefully.)
haber -> haya / hayan (there be / have): No haya dudas. (Let there be no doubts.)
saber -> sepa / sepan (know): Sepan que es gratis. (Know that it's free.)
dar -> dé / den (give): Déme su pasaporte. (Give me your passport.)
estar -> esté / estén (be): Esté tranquilo. (Stay calm.)

The yo-stem irregulars carry through too, exactly as in the subjunctive: tener -> tenga / tengan, hacer -> haga / hagan, decir -> diga / digan, venir -> venga / vengan, poner -> ponga / pongan, salir -> salga / salgan. If you can form the subjunctive, you already have all of these.

Spelling-change verbs

The verbs that change spelling in the subjunctive to keep their sound do exactly the same in the formal command. The -car, -gar, -zar verbs are the ones to watch.

sacar -> saque / saquen (take out): Saque la lengua. (Stick out your tongue.)
llegar -> llegue / lleguen (arrive): No lleguen tarde. (Don't arrive late.)
empezar -> empiece / empiecen (begin): Empiece cuando quiera. (Begin whenever you like.)
buscar -> busque (look for): Busque la salida. (Look for the exit.)
pagar -> pague (pay): Pague en caja. (Pay at the till.)

The c -> qu, g -> gu and z -> c swaps are not new rules for commands; they are the subjunctive spellings you already met.

Pronoun placement

As with every imperative, object and reflexive pronouns flip position depending on affirmative versus negative.

Affirmative: pronouns attach to the end of the verb, usually forcing a written accent because the word grows longer and the stress has to be held in place. Siéntese. (Sit down.) Dígame. (Tell me.) Tráiganmelo. (Bring it to me - ustedes, two pronouns.)
Negative: pronouns go before the verb, between the no and the verb. No se siente. (Don't sit down.) No me lo traiga. (Don't bring it to me.) No me diga. (Don't tell me / you don't say.)

So adding a no drags the pronoun from the back of the verb to the front, and the accent problem disappears with it:

Siéntese. -> No se siente. (Sit down. -> Don't sit down.)
Dígamelo. -> No me lo diga. (Tell me it. -> Don't tell me it.)
Levántese. -> No se levante. (Get up. -> Don't get up.)

This is the same switch covered for tú and vosotros on the negative commands page; the mechanics do not change for usted.

The register: why Spanish reaches for usted commands

Worth a reassuring word. An usted command can sound softer and more courteous than the bare English imperative, not bossier. Spanish leans on it for service, official instructions and signage, where English would hedge with "please could you" or a passive. Pase (come through), siga (carry on / follow), rellene el formulario (fill in the form), tome asiento (take a seat), disculpe (excuse me) are everyday politeness, not barked orders. Treat the formal command as the polite default with anyone you'd address as usted, and it will read as respectful rather than abrupt.

One regional note, kept brief because a later chapter covers it in full: in most of Latin America ustedes is the only plural "you", so the ustedes command doubles as the informal plural too - it is what you say to a group of friends as well as to a group of strangers. In Spain, vosotros keeps a separate informal plural with its own commands (hablad, no habléis), and ustedes stays strictly formal. Either way the ustedes form itself never changes; only its social reach does.

Worked examples

Pase y siéntese, por favor. (Come in and sit down, please.) - affirmative usted.
No se preocupe, todo está bien. (Don't worry, everything's fine.) - negative usted.
Rellenen el formulario y firmen abajo. (Fill in the form and sign at the bottom.) - affirmative ustedes.
No coman antes de la prueba. (Don't eat before the test.) - negative ustedes.
Déme su pasaporte, por favor. (Give me your passport, please.) - irregular dar.
Vaya recto y gire a la derecha. (Go straight on and turn right.) - irregular ir.
Saque la entrada del bolsillo. (Take the ticket out of your pocket.) - spelling change sacar.
No lleguen tarde a la reunión. (Don't arrive late to the meeting.) - spelling change llegar.
Dígamelo ahora. / No me lo diga todavía. (Tell me now. / Don't tell me yet.) - pronoun switch.

Common mistakes English speakers make

Reaching for the tú command and adding usted. Learners say habla usted or come usted for a formal order, copying the informal command and tacking on the pronoun. The usted command is the subjunctive: hable usted, coma usted. The -e/-a ending, not a pronoun, is what marks the formality.

Inventing a separate negative form. Because tú splits into habla and no hables, learners assume usted must split too and hunt for a different negative shape. There isn't one: pase and no pase are the same form. Just add the no.

Leaving the pronoun on the end of a negative command. Producing no siéntese or no dígamelo copies the affirmative attachment habit. In the negative the pronoun moves in front: no se siente, no me lo diga. Add the no and the pronoun jumps to before the verb.

Forgetting the spelling change. Writing saqe or no lleges drops the subjunctive spelling. It is saque and no lleguen for exactly the reason it is in the subjunctive - to keep the hard sound. If you'd write it in the subjunctive, write it the same way here.

Get the one rule, the both-directions point and the pronoun switch straight, and the formal imperative is no extra work at all. It is the subjunctive you already built, addressed to the person in front of you.