The tu imperativo is the form you use to give a direct command to one person you'd address informally — a friend, a sibling, a child, a peer. It's the imperative you'll use 90% of the time in casual conversation, and it has one of the simplest patterns in Italian grammar — with one famous trap (the truncated forms va', da', di', fa', sta') that even advanced learners mishandle when clitics are involved.
This page covers the affirmative tu imperative. The negative tu imperative uses a completely different structure (non + infinitive) and has its own dedicated page.
The basic pattern
The tu imperative endings split cleanly along the -are / -ere / -ire boundary:
| Class | Tu imperative ending | Same as presente? |
|---|---|---|
| -are | -a | NO — presente tu is -i |
| -ere | -i | YES — same as presente tu |
| -ire | -i | YES — same as presente tu |
| -ire (isc) | -isci | YES — isc inserts here too |
The single oddity is -are: the imperative is parla! but the presente tu is parli. Every other class uses the same form for both. This is the one mismatch you'll need to internalize.
-are verbs: drop -are, add -a
Parla più piano, ti sento benissimo!
Speak more quietly, I can hear you just fine!
Mangia la verdura prima del dolce.
Eat your vegetables before dessert.
Lavora con calma, non c'è fretta.
Work calmly, there's no rush.
Guarda che bel tramonto!
Look at that beautiful sunset!
Aspetta un attimo, arrivo subito.
Wait a second, I'll be right there.
-ere and -ire verbs: drop the ending, add -i
Scrivi il tuo nome qui, per favore.
Write your name here, please.
Prendi un caffè con me?
Have a coffee with me?
Leggi questo articolo, è interessantissimo.
Read this article, it's super interesting.
Dormi un po', sembri esausto.
Get some sleep, you look exhausted.
Apri la finestra, c'è troppo caldo.
Open the window, it's too hot.
-isc verbs: yes, the isc still appears
The -isc infix (capisco, finisco, preferisco) is preserved in the tu imperative — exactly as in the presente tu form.
Finisci i compiti prima di uscire.
Finish your homework before going out.
Capisci che non posso aiutarti questa volta?
Do you understand that I can't help you this time?
Pulisci la tua stanza prima di andare.
Clean your room before going out.
For the full -isc class, see regular -ire (isc subgroup).
The five truncated irregulars
Five high-frequency verbs have shortened tu imperative forms ending in an apostrophe. These are vestigial Latin imperatives that survived in Italian, and they coexist with longer regular alternatives:
| Infinitive | Truncated form | Long form | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| andare | va' | vai | go! |
| dare | da' | dai | give! |
| dire | di' | (no long form) | say! / tell! |
| fare | fa' | fai | do! / make! |
| stare | sta' | stai | stay! / be! |
The truncated and long forms are interchangeable in most contexts: Vai a casa! and Va' a casa! both mean "Go home!" The truncated forms feel slightly more peremptory or idiomatic; the long forms are slightly softer. The single exception is dire, which has no long form — it must be di' with the apostrophe (never di without it, which would be "of/from"). Every Italian primary-school teacher drills this point: di' always carries its apostrophe.
Va' a letto, è tardi.
Go to bed, it's late.
Dimmi tutto, sono qui per ascoltarti.
Tell me everything, I'm here to listen.
Fa' come ti pare, io non posso fermarti.
Do as you please, I can't stop you.
Sta' tranquillo, va tutto bene.
Take it easy, everything's fine.
Da' una mano a tuo fratello, per favore.
Give your brother a hand, please.
Two more irregulars: essere and avere
Essere and avere have completely irregular tu imperatives that look more like congiuntivi than imperatives. They are not used as freely as the other forms — Italians more often paraphrase — but you do need to recognize them:
| Infinitive | Tu imperative | English |
|---|---|---|
| essere | sii! | be! |
| avere | abbi! | have! |
Sii sincero con me, te lo chiedo per favore.
Be honest with me, I'm asking you please.
Abbi pazienza, arriverà il tuo turno.
Have patience, your turn will come.
Sii forte, ce la farai.
Be strong, you'll get through it.
Clitic attachment and the doubling rule
In the affirmative imperative, clitic pronouns attach directly to the verb to form a single written word: dammi (give me), dimmi (tell me), scrivigli (write to him), mangialo (eat it).
This is straightforward for most verbs — just stick the clitic on the end. But for the five truncated forms (va', da', di', fa', sta'), something special happens: when a clitic attaches, the initial consonant of the clitic doubles. The apostrophe disappears, and you get geminated consonants:
| Imperative |
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| da' |
| dammi | give me |
| di' |
| dimmi | tell me |
| fa' |
| falle | do them (f.) / do it for her |
| fa' | facci | do for us | |
| sta' |
| statti | stay yourself (zitto) |
| va' |
| vacci | go there |
| da' | daglielo | give it to him (no doubling — gli-) |
The only exception is the clitic gli and its combined forms (glielo, gliela, glieli, gliele, gliene) — they do not trigger doubling: dagli (give to him), digli (tell him), fagli (do for him), daglielo (give it to him), not *daggli, *diggli, *daggielo.
Dimmi cosa è successo, sono preoccupata.
Tell me what happened, I'm worried.
Dammi un secondo, sto arrivando.
Give me a second, I'm coming.
Fallo subito, non perdere tempo.
Do it right away, don't waste time.
Vacci tu, io sono troppo stanco.
You go there, I'm too tired.
Digli che ho chiamato.
Tell him I called.
The doubling rule applies to the truncated imperatives only. For the long forms (vai, dai, fai, stai) and the regular imperatives (parla, scrivi, finisci), no doubling occurs:
Parlami della tua giornata.
Tell me about your day. (no doubling — parla is regular)
Scrivimi appena arrivi.
Write to me as soon as you arrive. (no doubling)
Common mistakes
❌ Parli più piano! (to a friend)
Incorrect — parli! is the formal Lei command. To a friend, use the tu form: parla!
✅ Parla più piano!
Correct — the tu imperative of -are verbs ends in -a, not -i.
❌ Di mi cosa pensi.
Incorrect — di' must always carry its apostrophe (otherwise it reads as the preposition 'of'), and the clitic must attach with consonant doubling.
✅ Dimmi cosa pensi.
Correct — di' + mi → dimmi (with double m).
❌ Dami una mano.
Incorrect — when a clitic attaches to the truncated da', the consonant doubles.
✅ Dammi una mano.
Correct — da' + mi → dammi.
❌ Finisce i compiti! (to your child)
Incorrect — finisce is 3sg presente. The tu imperative is finisci, with the -isc infix and -i ending.
✅ Finisci i compiti!
Correct — -isc verbs preserve the infix in the tu imperative.
❌ Sii paziente con tu fratello.
Incorrect for two reasons: missing apostrophe in tu (sounds like the pronoun, not the possessive 'tuo'), and word choice. Should be tuo.
✅ Sii paziente con tuo fratello.
Correct — sii is the imperative of essere; tuo is the possessive 'your'.
❌ Daggli il libro.
Incorrect — gli is the one clitic that does NOT trigger doubling on truncated imperatives.
✅ Dagli il libro.
Correct — da' + gli → dagli (no doubling).
Key takeaways
The tu imperative is structurally simple but has two famous traps:
-are verbs end in -a (parla!), not -i. Every other class shares the form with the presente tu (scrivi, finisci, capisci).
Five irregulars have truncated forms with apostrophes: va', da', di', fa', sta'. Di' has no long alternative; the others coexist with vai, dai, fai, stai.
Clitic attachment doubles the consonant on the truncated forms: dammi, dimmi, fallo, vacci. The single exception is gli, which never doubles.
For commands to a stranger or in formal contexts, use the Lei formal imperative. For "let's" commands, see the noi imperative. For negative commands to one person, see the negative tu form — which uses non + infinitive rather than the imperative itself.
Now practice Italian
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- L'Imperativo: OverviewA2 — How Italian gives commands: the five-person imperative system, the strange asymmetry between affirmative and negative, and the borrowing of the formal forms from the subjunctive.
- Imperativo: Negative Tu FormA2 — Why 'don't speak!' to a friend is non parlare! and not non parla! — the one place in Italian where the infinitive serves as a direct command.
- Imperativo: Lei Form (Formal Singular)A2 — How to give polite commands and requests to one stranger or person of higher status — borrowed from the congiuntivo presente, with clitics that precede rather than attach.
- Imperativo: Noi Form (Let's)A2 — How Italian expresses 'let's go!' with a single conjugated form — the noi imperative, identical to the presente indicativo, with clitics that attach to the end.
- Presente: Regular -are VerbsA1 — How to conjugate the largest and most regular class of Italian verbs in the present indicative — and how to avoid the stress trap that gives away every learner.
- Presente: -isco -ire VerbsA1 — How to conjugate the productive -isco subgroup of -ire verbs in the present indicative — the default pattern that covers the vast majority of -ire verbs you'll encounter.