Nosotros Commands: 'Let's...'

The final person of the imperative is nosotros - the "let's" command. Like the formal commands, it is just the present subjunctive, this time in the first-person plural. If you can say hablemos, you can say "let's talk".

This page assumes you can already build the subjunctive. If hablemos, comamos and vivamos look unfamiliar, start with how to form the present subjunctive and come back.

The one rule: nosotros command = first-person-plural subjunctive

Take the nosotros present subjunctive and use it directly. It means "let's verb".

• hablemos (let's talk)
• comamos (let's eat)
• vivamos (let's live)
• salgamos (let's leave / go out)
• hagamos (let's do)

The negative is the same form with a no in front, exactly as the formal commands work:

• No hablemos de eso. (Let's not talk about that.)
• No comamos aquí. (Let's not eat here.)

So for almost every verb, the nosotros command uses the subjunctive in both directions. There is one exception, and it is a famous one.

The big exception: ir

The verb ir ("to go") breaks the pattern in the affirmative. "Let's go" is vamos, the present indicative, not the subjunctive vayamos. It is a fixed, idiomatic form and the one you will hear constantly.

• ¡Vamos! (Let's go!) - affirmative, indicative form.
• Vamos a la playa. (Let's go to the beach.)

But the moment you negate it, it snaps straight back to the subjunctive:

• No vayamos todavía. (Let's not go yet.) - negative, subjunctive.
• Never no vamos for "let's not go".

So ir is the only nosotros command that does not use the subjunctive in both directions: vamos for the affirmative, no vayamos for the negative. Flag it and move on.

The everyday alternative: vamos a + infinitive

Here is the practical reality. The synthetic hablemos form has a slightly literary, exhortatory ring - think speeches, slogans and written prose. In ordinary speech, Spanish far more often says vamos a + infinitive.

• Vamos a comer. (Let's eat. / We're going to eat.)
• Vamos a empezar. (Let's start.)
• Vamos a ver. (Let's see.)

The two registers contrast cleanly:

Note the small ambiguity in vamos a comer: out of context it can also mean "we're going to eat", the plain future-with-ir. Tone and situation settle which one is meant, and Spanish speakers are entirely comfortable with the overlap. For the negative "let's not", though, the vamos a frame is awkward and speakers fall back on the subjunctive: no comamos, not a negated vamos a.

Pronoun placement and the two spelling quirks

Pronouns flip the usual way - attached to the affirmative, before the negative - but the affirmative form has two spelling quirks worth flagging.

Affirmative: pronouns attach to the end, and the final -s can drop.

• Before the reflexive nos, the verb's final -s disappears: sentemos + nos -> sentémonos (let's sit down), not sentemosnos. Same with vámonos (let's go / off we go), where vamos + nos loses the s.
• Before se, the final -s also drops: digamos + se lo -> digámoselo (let's tell him it), not digamosselo.
• Both attached forms take a written accent to hold the stress: sentémonos, digámoselo, levantémonos.

Negative: pronouns go before the verb and nothing drops.

• No nos sentemos aquí. (Let's not sit down here.)
• No se lo digamos. (Let's not tell him it.)

So the switch mirrors every other command: add the no, and the pronoun jumps from the back of the verb to the front - with the dropped -s restored.

• Sentémonos. -> No nos sentemos. (Let's sit down. -> Let's not sit down.)
• Digámoselo. -> No se lo digamos. (Let's tell him it. -> Let's not tell him it.)

Worked examples

• Hablemos claro. (Let's speak plainly.) - synthetic command.
• Vamos a hablar de esto mañana. (Let's talk about this tomorrow.) - vamos a alternative.
• ¡Vamos! (Let's go!) - the ir exception, affirmative.
• No vayamos sin paraguas. (Let's not go without an umbrella.) - the ir exception, negative.
• Sentémonos un momento. (Let's sit down a moment.) - reflexive, dropped -s.
• No nos quedemos aquí. (Let's not stay here.) - negative reflexive.
• Digámoselo a María. (Let's tell María.) - double pronoun, dropped -s.
• Vámonos ya. (Let's get going.) - the everyday vámonos.
• Empecemos. / Vamos a empezar. (Let's start.) - the two registers side by side.

Common mistakes English speakers make

Using vayamos for affirmative "let's go". The natural-looking subjunctive vayamos is wrong for the affirmative; it has to be vamos. Reserve vayamos for the negative: no vayamos. This is the single irregular to drill.

Keeping the -s before nos and se. Writing sentemosnos or digamosselo keeps the full ending. The -s drops: sentémonos, digámoselo. Drop the s and add the accent.

Reaching for the synthetic form in casual speech. Producing hablemos and comamos everywhere is grammatically fine but can sound stiff or speech-like in relaxed conversation, where vamos a hablar, vamos a comer is the natural default. Save the crisp synthetic form for emphasis, writing and set phrases.

Forgetting the negative drops back to the subjunctive. Saying no vamos for "let's not go" copies the affirmative. The negative is no vayamos, with the subjunctive restored. Affirmative vamos, negative vayamos.

Get the synthetic form, the vamos a alternative, the ir exception and the two spelling quirks straight, and the nosotros command rounds off the imperative. It is the last face of the subjunctive you already know, turned into an invitation.

See also

• How to form the present subjunctive - the endings, the yo-stem rule and the irregulars that the nosotros command is built from.
• Formal commands: usted and ustedes - the other subjunctive-based imperative, with the same pronoun switch.
• Spanish negative commands - why every negative command borrows the subjunctive, across all persons.
• The Spanish imperative - the affirmative tú command and the eight irregulars.
• The Spanish grammar cheatsheet has the nosotros-command forms, the ir exception and the vamos a alternative on one card.