By now you have met the imperative's parts on their own pages — the singular forms, the plural, the negative, the clitics. This page does something different: it puts them side by side so you can drill the command system as a single, interlocking machine. The goal is not to teach a new rule but to build automatic reflexes for the two places learners reliably crash: the negative singular (which abandons the affirmative form for the infinitive) and the clitic flip (which moves the pronoun from behind an affirmative command to in front of a negative one). Work through the paired drills aloud — that pairing is the whole point.
The four cells, at a glance
Every "you"-command lives in one of four cells: singular or plural, affirmative or negative. Here is the whole grid for one regular and one irregular verb, so you can see the pattern and the trap at once.
| Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular (tu) | Cântă! / Vino! | Nu cânta! / Nu veni! |
| Plural (voi) | Cântați! / Veniți! | Nu cântați! / Nu veniți! |
Three of the four cells are easy. The plural is uniform — the same -ți form whether you affirm or negate (Veniți! / Nu veniți!), and it is just the present-indicative voi form. The affirmative singular is its own form (regular Cântă!, irregular Vino!). The one cell that bites is the negative singular: it throws away the affirmative entirely and uses nu + the infinitive. That is the rule to drill until it is automatic.
Drill 1: affirmative singular ↔ plural
Move the same command between one listener and several. The plural is the -ți form you already know from the indicative.
Deschide ușa! → Deschideți ușa!
Open the door! (to one → to several)
Așteaptă-mă! → Așteptați-mă!
Wait for me! (to one → to several)
Vino mai aproape! → Veniți mai aproape!
Come closer! (to one → to several)
Drill 2: affirmative ↔ negative (singular)
This is the high-value drill. Watch the stem change in the singular: the affirmative form vanishes and the infinitive takes over. Say each pair as a unit.
Vino mâine! → Nu veni mâine!
Come tomorrow! → Don't come tomorrow! (vino → veni)
Fă asta acum! → Nu face asta acum!
Do this now! → Don't do this now! (fă → face)
Stai aici! → Nu sta aici!
Stay here! → Don't stay here! (stai → sta)
Spune-i! → Nu-i spune!
Tell him! → Don't tell him! (note the clitic also flips)
In that last pair, two things changed at once: the verb form (which we will see is regular for spune) and the clitic, which jumped from behind the affirmative to in front of the negative. That second move is Drill 4.
Drill 3: the plural stays put
Reassuring contrast: in the plural, the negative is just nu + the unchanged affirmative form. No stem surprise.
Veniți acum! → Nu veniți acum!
Come now! → Don't come now! (form unchanged)
Faceți zgomot! → Nu faceți zgomot!
Make noise! → Don't make noise! (form unchanged)
Vorbiți toți deodată! → Nu vorbiți toți deodată!
Everyone talk at once! → Don't all talk at once! (form unchanged)
So the asymmetry you are drilling is precisely: the singular negative changes the stem (Vino! → Nu veni!), the plural negative does not (Veniți! → Nu veniți!).
Drill 4: the clitic flip
When a pronoun joins the command, it sits behind an affirmative (attached with a hyphen) but jumps in front of a negative. Stacked clitics keep the order dative + accusative behind the affirmative, then unstack and move forward under negation.
| Affirmative | Negative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Dă-mi-l! | Nu mi-l da! | Give it to me! / Don't give it to me! |
| Spune-mi! | Nu-mi spune! | Tell me! / Don't tell me! |
| Ajută-mă! | Nu mă ajuta! | Help me! / Don't help me! |
| Du-te! | Nu te duce! | Go! / Don't go! |
Dă-mi-l înapoi, e al meu!
Give it back to me, it's mine!
Nu mi-l da încă, mai aștept.
Don't give it to me yet, I'm still waiting.
Ajută-mă să mut canapeaua.
Help me move the couch.
Nu mă ajuta, mă descurc singur.
Don't help me, I can manage on my own.
The logic, in one line: an affirmative command starts with the verb, so a clitic has nothing to lean on in front and slides to the back; a negative command starts with nu, which the clitic happily leans on, so it stays in front. The full mechanics are on the imperatives with clitics page.
Mixed drill: assemble the whole command
Now combine everything. For each prompt, build the command Romanian actually uses.
(tu, a se grăbi, affirmative) → Grăbește-te, pierdem trenul!
Hurry up, we'll miss the train!
(tu, a se grăbi, negative) → Nu te grăbi, avem timp destul.
Don't rush, we've got plenty of time.
(voi, a închide ușa, affirmative) → Închideți ușa, vă rog!
Close the door, please! (to several)
(tu, a-mi da telefonul, affirmative) → Dă-mi telefonul un pic.
Give me the phone for a sec.
(tu, a-mi da telefonul, negative) → Nu-mi da telefonul acum, conduc.
Don't give me the phone now, I'm driving.
Common Mistakes
❌ Nu vino mâine!
Incorrect — the number-one imperative error; the negative singular uses the infinitive 'veni'.
✅ Nu veni mâine!
Don't come tomorrow!
❌ Nu fă asta!
Incorrect — negative singular of 'a face' is the infinitive 'face', not the affirmative 'fă'.
✅ Nu face asta!
Don't do that!
❌ Nu spune-mi asta!
Incorrect — under negation the clitic moves in front: nu-mi spune.
✅ Nu-mi spune asta!
Don't tell me that!
❌ Dă-l-mi!
Incorrect order — dative before accusative: mi before l.
✅ Dă-mi-l!
Give it to me!
❌ Nu mergi! (addressed to a group)
Incorrect — that's the negative singular; the plural keeps the 2pl form.
✅ Nu mergeți!
Don't go! (to several)
Key Takeaways
- Four cells: affirmative/negative × singular/plural. Three are easy; the negative singular is the one to drill.
- Negative singular = nu + infinitive: Vino! → Nu veni!, never *Nu vino!.
- The plural is uniform: Veniți! / Nu veniți! — just nu added, no stem change.
- The clitic flips: enclitic behind an affirmative (dă-mi-l!), proclitic before a negative (nu mi-l da!).
- Self-check before speaking: number → polarity (infinitive if negative singular) → clitic position.
Now practice Romanian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- The Negative ImperativeA2 — The crucial asymmetry: the negative singular command uses nu + the short infinitive (Nu cânta!, Nu veni!), not the affirmative form — while the negative plural uses nu + the indicative 2pl.
- Imperatives with Pronoun CliticsB1 — How object and reflexive clitics attach after affirmative imperatives with a hyphen, but move before negative ones.
- Affirmative Imperative: tu (2sg)A2 — How to form the familiar singular command — the transitive/intransitive split (cântă! vs fugi!) and the high-frequency irregulars (vino, fii, du-te, fă) you simply must memorize.
- Affirmative Imperative: voi (2pl) and PolitenessA2 — The plural imperative equals the present indicative 2pl (cântați!, mergeți!) — and because Romanian has no dedicated polite-singular command, this same form carries politeness with dumneavoastră.
- The Imperative: OverviewA2 — An introduction to the Romanian imperative — its two genuine forms (2sg familiar and 2pl/polite), and why everything else falls to the conjunctiv.