The você affirmative imperative is what you reach for when you need a polite or formal command in Portuguese. You hear it every day in cafes, shops, hospitals, banks, and anywhere else that involves polite strangers. "Please sit down", "Take a seat", "Tell me when you're ready", "Pass by the counter" -- in European Portuguese, all of these use the você command form, whether or not the word você is actually spoken. Learning this slot is essential to functioning politely in Portugal as an adult.
The one rule
Affirmative você commands = present subjunctive. The form is identical for affirmative and negative, and identical across the você and o senhor / a senhora register.
To form it, swap the theme vowel of the infinitive:
- -ar verbs → ending in -e: falar → fale, trabalhar → trabalhe, entrar → entre
- -er verbs → ending in -a: comer → coma, beber → beba, atender → atenda
- -ir verbs → ending in -a: partir → parta, decidir → decida, abrir → abra
Fale mais devagar, por favor.
Speak more slowly, please.
Coma com calma, ainda há tempo.
Eat slowly, there's still time.
Parta antes que o trânsito piore.
Leave before the traffic gets worse.
The irregular você imperatives
Verbs that are irregular in the present subjunctive carry that irregularity into the imperative. Here are the ones you will meet most often:
| Infinitive | Affirmative você | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ser | seja | be |
| estar | esteja | be (state) |
| ter | tenha | have |
| ir | vá | go |
| vir | venha | come |
| fazer | faça | do, make |
| dizer | diga | say, tell |
| pôr | ponha | put |
| saber | saiba | know |
| ver | veja | see, look |
| dar | dê | give |
| querer | queira | want |
| haver | haja | there to be |
Notice the diacritics. Vá (go!) takes an acute accent to distinguish it from va (which does not exist as a word but could be misread). Dê (give!) takes a circumflex -- without it, it would be read as de (the preposition "of"). Faça, diga, ponha, saiba, veja, venha, queira, haja -- these all come straight from the present subjunctive paradigm.
Diga-me o que deseja.
Tell me what you'd like.
Venha cá, por favor.
Come here, please.
Faça o favor de se sentar.
Please have a seat.
Ponha o casaco ali, ao lado da porta.
Put your coat there, by the door.
Vá com calma, ainda é cedo.
Take it easy, it's still early.
Seja bem-vindo a Lisboa.
Welcome to Lisbon.
Clitic placement
The rule for affirmative commands is enclisis: the pronoun attaches to the end of the verb with a hyphen.
Diga-me as horas, se faz favor.
Tell me the time, please.
Ponha-o ali ao canto.
Put it over there in the corner.
Sente-se, por favor.
Please have a seat.
Levante-se devagar, pode ficar com tonturas.
Get up slowly, you might feel dizzy.
Reflexive você takes the pronoun se:
Acomode-se, a reunião começa daqui a pouco.
Make yourself comfortable, the meeting starts soon.
Cale-se, por favor -- ninguém consegue ouvir.
Please be quiet -- nobody can hear.
See clitic placement with imperatives for the combined clitic forms (diga-mo, ponha-lho, etc.) and the rule for negative commands (não me diga).
Portugal's preference: avoid saying você
Here is an important subtlety about European Portuguese that textbooks often skip. In Portugal, the word você itself can feel cold, distant, or even slightly disrespectful in face-to-face interaction -- depending on the context. Many Portuguese speakers avoid it:
- With close relationships, use tu.
- With strangers or in professional contexts, use o senhor / a senhora (literally "the gentleman / the lady") -- this is the real Portugal polite-you.
- Or use the verb form alone without any overt pronoun. The subjunctive form fale, venha, sente-se by itself is perfectly polite and is what you will hear constantly.
This means the você command form (which IS the subjunctive) is omnipresent in Portugal, but the word você itself is often absent.
Sente-se, faça favor.
Have a seat, please. (said by a waiter to a customer -- no overt pronoun)
Aguarde um momento, já o atendo.
Wait a moment, I'll be right with you.
Desculpe, pode repetir?
Sorry, could you repeat that?
None of these three sentences contains você, but all are in the você form (= subjunctive). This is how polite-stranger Portuguese actually sounds on the street in Lisbon or Porto.
O senhor / a senhora
When extra deference is called for -- addressing an older person, a professor, a boss, or anyone in a position of respect -- Portuguese speakers frequently use o senhor (to a man) or a senhora (to a woman) in place of você. The verb form is still the subjunctive (same as você), but the overt noun phrase makes the deference explicit.
O senhor queira desculpar o atraso.
Please excuse the delay, sir.
A senhora sente-se, por favor, vou chamar o médico.
Please have a seat, madam, I'll call the doctor.
O senhor doutor diga-me se isto faz mal.
Doctor, please tell me if this hurts. (to a doctor)
Titles -- senhor doutor, senhora doutora, senhor engenheiro, senhora professora -- compound the politeness and are very Portuguese.
Real-life contexts
Restaurant and cafe
Traga-me um café e um pastel de nata, por favor.
Bring me a coffee and a custard tart, please.
Deixe-me só ver a ementa um momento.
Just let me look at the menu for a moment.
Prove este vinho, é da nossa região.
Try this wine, it's from our region.
Shop and customer service
Entre, entre. Em que posso ajudar?
Come in, come in. How can I help you?
Espere ali ao pé da caixa, por favor.
Wait there by the till, please.
Experimente aquele, é mais o seu tamanho.
Try that one on, it's more your size.
Directions from a stranger
Siga em frente até ao semáforo, depois vire à esquerda.
Go straight on until the traffic light, then turn left.
Desculpe, pode dizer-me onde fica a estação?
Excuse me, can you tell me where the station is?
Medical / professional
Respire fundo e não se mexa.
Take a deep breath and don't move.
Assine aqui, por favor.
Sign here, please.
Comparison with tu
The choice between tu and você commands is a social one, not a grammatical one. Both are grammatically correct; both give commands. The difference is what they signal about the relationship.
| Form | Who you'd use it with | Feel |
|---|---|---|
| Fala! | Friend, sibling, child, close peer | Warm, direct, familiar |
| Fale! | Stranger, client, older person, professional | Polite, distant, professional |
Picking the wrong register causes real social friction. Fala comigo to a customer-service agent will feel presumptuous. Fale comigo to your best friend will feel cold. There is no universal safe choice -- you have to read the situation.
Common Mistakes
❌ Fala mais devagar, por favor. (to a stranger in a shop)
Registrally wrong -- tu form with a stranger feels over-familiar.
✅ Fale mais devagar, por favor.
Speak more slowly, please.
Using tu with someone you do not know in Portugal can feel presumptuous. Default to fale with strangers, older people, and in professional contexts.
❌ Diz-me o que quer.
Mixed forms -- diz is tu, quer is você.
✅ Diga-me o que quer.
Tell me what you'd like.
Consistency matters. Once you have chosen a register, keep all verbs in the same paradigm. Mixing tu and você forms within a single sentence or exchange is jarring.
❌ Va ali.
Incorrect -- missing acute accent on the irregular vá.
✅ Vá ali.
Go over there.
The você imperative of ir is vá, with an acute accent. Without it, the word is incorrect.
❌ De-me um café.
Incorrect -- missing circumflex on dê.
✅ Dê-me um café.
Give me a coffee.
The você imperative of dar is dê, with a circumflex, to distinguish it from de (the preposition "of").
❌ Me diga a verdade.
Incorrect order -- proclisis does not occur with affirmative commands in EP.
✅ Diga-me a verdade.
Tell me the truth.
European Portuguese attaches the pronoun to the end of affirmative commands with a hyphen.
❌ Você fale mais devagar, por favor. (at a cafe)
Overt você here can feel cold or over-formal -- the verb form alone is enough.
✅ Fale mais devagar, por favor.
Speak more slowly, please.
Portugal tends to drop the overt você and let the verb form carry the politeness. Saying você aloud is not wrong, but it is often unnecessary and can feel distant.
Key takeaways
- The affirmative você command = present subjunctive. Swap theme vowels: -ar → -e, -er/-ir → -a.
- Memorize the irregular set: seja, esteja, tenha, vá, venha, faça, diga, ponha, saiba, veja, dê, queira, haja.
- Diacritics matter: vá, dê. Missing them is a factual error.
- Pronouns are enclitic: diga-me, sente-se, ponha-o.
- In Portugal, the word você itself often feels cold; prefer o senhor / a senhora or no overt pronoun with the verb form.
- Use the você form with strangers, professionals, older people, and anywhere a distance of respect is appropriate.
For the informal counterpart, see tu affirmative commands. For the negative side, see negative commands. For the underlying forms, see present subjunctive overview.
Related Topics
- Imperative OverviewA2 — Giving commands and instructions in European Portuguese
- Tu Affirmative CommandsA2 — Forming affirmative commands with tu -- the everyday form between friends, family, and peers
- Negative CommandsA2 — How to form negative commands in European Portuguese — the subjunctive rules the don't-do-it side of the imperative