Casual Commands: -아/어 and Plain -아/어라

Once you leave the polite -(으)세요 register and drop into intimate speech, giving an order gets structurally simpler — almost suspiciously so. Casual Korean has two command shapes, and neither of them is a brand-new ending you have to learn. The first, intimate -아/어, is just the bare 반말 form you already use for statements. The second, plain-style -아/어라, is the blunt imperative of the written/narrative 한다체. This page teaches both, and, just as importantly, teaches who you are allowed to point them at.

Command 1: bare -아/어 (intimate 반말)

Here is the surprise: 반말 has no dedicated imperative morphology at all. The casual command is identical to the casual statement. 먹어 is simultaneously "I'm eating," "(you) eat," and "eat!" — the only thing that tells them apart is the situation and the melody of your voice. A falling tone reads as a statement; a firm, clipped delivery reads as an order; a rising tone reads as a question. One string of syllables, three speech acts.

So to build the intimate command, you do exactly what you do for a 반말 statement: take the 해요체 form and slice off the 요. All the vowel harmony and contractions ride along untouched.

Vowel harmony works exactly as it does for the present tense: a stem whose last vowel is ㅏ/ㅗ takes -아 (앉아, 봐), everything else takes -어 (먹어, 마셔, 기다려). If you can already form the 반말 present, you can already form the intimate command — there is nothing extra to memorize.

Because the form is bare 반말, everything on the casual speech page applies: use it only with people you are licensed to address casually — close friends of similar age, younger siblings, children, or anyone with whom you have explicitly agreed to speak casually. A bare 앉아 aimed at a stranger, a boss, or an elder is not "informal," it is disrespectful.

Command 2: plain -아/어라 (한다체)

The second shape, -아/어라, is a genuine imperative ending — the command mood of the plain/written 한다체. It is blunter and more authoritative than bare 반말, and it has two very characteristic homes:

1. Downward authority in speech — a parent to a child, a coach to players, a drill sergeant. It carries a tone of command, not intimacy.
2. Written and quoted instructions — the default imperative on paper: recipe steps, exam rubrics ("다음 질문에 답하라"), signs, quoted orders in narration.

It uses the same vowel harmony: 가라, 먹어라, 앉아라, 잘 자라.

In writing, -아/어라 (and its consonant-neutral cousin -(으)라, used for indirect/quoted commands) is simply how imperatives look on the page — it carries no rudeness there, because there is no live addressee to disrespect. A cookbook that says 소금을 넣어라 "add salt" is not being bossy; it is using the neutral written imperative. This split — blunt in the mouth, neutral on the page — is the key thing to feel. For the wider plain-style mood system, see 한다체 moods and the plain present -ㄴ다/는다.

The bare form vs. -아/어라, side by side

Both are casual, both take the same harmony, but they are not interchangeable. Bare -아/어 is intimate (closeness); -아/어라 is authoritative/plain (bluntness or writing). To a close friend you would say 이거 봐 "look at this," not the schoolmaster-ish 이거 봐라 (which lands as gruff or teasing). To your own small child you might say either, but -아/어라 adds a note of parental command.

A note for readers of older texts and folk tales: two archaic imperative endings, -거라 (가거라) and -너라 (오너라, irregular to 오다), survive in literature and in the speech of older people addressing children. They sound old-fashioned or storybook-like — 어서 오너라 "come here, child" — and you should recognize them but not adopt them (literary / older).

Reframing for English speakers

English marks the imperative by removing the subject: "You eat" → "Eat!" That subtraction is the whole grammar of the English command. Korean intimate speech is even more minimal: it removes nothing and adds nothing — 먹어 is the statement and the order, disambiguated entirely by context and intonation. The lesson for learners is to stop hunting for a special "casual command form." In 반말 there is none; you already have it the moment you can make the statement. What you must instead attend to is the social question the grammar cannot answer for you: am I actually licensed to speak casually to this person at all? If the answer is no, neither 먹어 nor 먹어라 is available — you are back in -(으)세요 territory.

Common Mistakes

1. Aiming a casual command at someone who must be addressed politely. The grammar is fine; the relationship is not.

2. Hunting for a special 반말 imperative ending. There isn't one — the bare -아/어 statement form is the command.

3. Picking the wrong harmony vowel. The last stem vowel decides 아 vs 어.

4. Using spoken -아/어라 with a friend as if it were neutral. To an equal it sounds gruff; use the intimate bare form.

Key Takeaways

• Intimate -아/어 is not a new ending — it is the bare 반말 form (해요체 minus 요), doing double duty as statement and command; tone carries the order.
• Plain -아/어라 is a real imperative ending (한다체): blunt and downward in speech (parent → child), but the neutral default in writing (recipes, exams, notices).
• Both follow ordinary vowel harmony: 앉아/앉아라, 먹어/먹어라.
• Archaic -거라 / -너라 (가거라, 오너라) survive only in literature and older speech.
• Both are for people you may address casually only — otherwise the polite -(으)세요 is required.