Spanish Imperative

Spanish imperatives split four ways - affirmative / negative, tú / usted - and they get more complicated as you go up the chain. This Foundation page covers the simplest: affirmative tú. The other three forms involve the subjunctive and are Higher-tier.

Affirmative tú: drop the -s

Take the present-tense tú form and drop the final -s. The result is the affirmative tú command.

Stem-changers keep their stem change:

• pensar (e → ie) → tú piensas → piensa
• dormir (o → ue) → tú duermes → duerme
• pedir (e → i) → tú pides → pide

This works for all regular verbs and stem-changers. Eight verbs break the pattern.

The eight irregular tú commands

These have to be memorised. The pattern doesn't help.

The mnemonic some teachers use is "Vin Diesel has ten ways" or similar nonsense. Whatever works. Sé carries a written accent to distinguish it from the reflexive pronoun se.

Pronoun attachment

With affirmative commands, pronouns attach to the end of the verb, written as one word. A written accent goes on the original stressed syllable to preserve the stress pattern.

• Dame el libro. (Give me the book.)
• Dímelo. (Tell it to me.)
• Ponlo aquí. (Put it here.)
• Levántate. (Get up.)
• Cómpramelo. (Buy it for me.)
• Siéntate. (Sit down.)

The accent rule: when you add one pronoun, the stress moves from the syllable that would carry it in the verb stem to one syllable earlier, and a written accent marks the original stress. When you add two pronouns, the accent is needed even earlier.

• da (no accent, one syllable, no pronoun attached)
• dame (accent not needed - two-syllable trochee, default stress on first syllable)
• dámelo (accent needed - three syllables, stress on the first)

When in doubt, add the accent. The under-accented form is often the wrong call.

Worked examples

• Habla más despacio, por favor. (Speak more slowly, please.)
• Come la verdura. (Eat your vegetables.)
• Escribe tu nombre aquí. (Write your name here.)
• Ven aquí. (Come here.)
• Ten cuidado. (Be careful.)
• Hazlo ahora. (Do it now.)
• Dime la verdad. (Tell me the truth.)
• Sal de aquí. (Get out of here.)

Negative imperatives (Higher-tier)

To form a negative command in Spanish, you can't just put no in front of the affirmative form - the verb has to switch to the present subjunctive. That's Higher-tier territory and covered on the intermediate Spanish grammar page.

What you need at Foundation tier is to recognise the negative form and to know the position rules for pronouns:

• Affirmative: pronoun attaches to the end. Dímelo.
• Negative: pronoun goes before the verb. No me lo digas.

A few of the most common negative commands worth recognising even at Foundation:

• No te preocupes. (Don't worry.)
• No me digas. (You don't say. / Really?)
• No lo hagas. (Don't do it.)

You'll meet these constantly in input. Producing them confidently is a Higher-tier ask.

Common mistakes English speakers make

Using the infinitive as a command - hablar instead of habla. The infinitive is never the command form, even though some signs in Spain use it for impersonal instructions (no fumar = no smoking). For a direct order to someone, drop the -s. Forgetting the written accent when attaching pronouns: dimelo is wrong, it's dímelo. And mixing up the affirmative and negative pronoun positions - dame el libro for the affirmative, no me des el libro for the negative.

See also

• The Spanish object pronouns page covers the attachment rules in full.
• The intermediate Spanish grammar page covers negative imperatives and the present subjunctive.