Imperative Overview

The imperative mood (modo imperativo) is how Spanish gives commands, instructions, and suggestions. "Speak!" "Don't run!" "Let's go!" — all of these live in the imperative. It's the grammar of recipes, signs, directions, parental instructions, and daily politeness.

Unlike English, which has essentially one command form ("eat!"), Spanish has a separate command form for each person and, on top of that, different forms for affirmative and negative in the tú slot. This page maps the whole system so the detail pages can focus on one slot at a time.

Who is being commanded?

Because Spanish uses distinct pronouns for each person, it also has distinct command forms. In Latin American Spanish, the main ones are:

• tú — informal singular ("you")
• usted — formal singular ("you")
• nosotros — "let's" commands
• ustedes — plural "you" (used in all of Latin America, formal and informal)

Some regions (Argentina, Uruguay, parts of Central America) also use vos instead of tú, which has its own command form (hablá, comé, viví). You'll meet vos in the regional section of this guide.

Complete Form Tables

Here are the full command forms for regular verbs in all three conjugations. Learn these patterns and you know the imperative for most verbs in Spanish.

-ar verbs: hablar

-er verbs: comer

-ir verbs: vivir

Notice that usted, nosotros, and ustedes all have the same form whether you are telling someone to do something or not to do it. Only tú (and vos) uses one form for "do it" and a different form for "don't do it."

Affirmative vs. negative at a glance

This asymmetry surprises most learners. Once you see the pattern, though, it's easy: everything but tú and vos uses the subjunctive for both directions.

Where the forms come from

Most imperative forms are actually borrowed from the present subjunctive. Only two slots stand apart:

• Affirmative tú — comes from the 3rd-person singular of the present indicative (habla, come, vive), with a handful of short irregulars.
• Affirmative vos — from the infinitive with the final -r replaced by -s... wait, no — just drop the -r and add an accent: hablar → hablá, comer → comé, vivir → viví.
• Everything else (negative tú, negative vos, all usted, ustedes, nosotros) comes from the present subjunctive.

That's why the subjunctive is the foundation of the imperative system. If you know the present subjunctive, you already know five of the six command slots.

The 8 Irregular Affirmative Tú Commands

Eight common verbs have short, irregular affirmative tú commands. These are among the most memorized items in all of Spanish grammar, because they show up constantly.

All eight only apply to the affirmative tú form. In the negative, they follow the subjunctive pattern like every other verb: no vengas, no digas, no salgas, no hagas, no tengas, no vayas, no pongas, no seas.

Placement of pronouns

Object and reflexive pronouns behave differently depending on whether the command is affirmative or negative. This is one of the trickiest corners of imperative grammar, and worth practicing out loud until the rhythms feel automatic.

• Affirmative commands: pronouns attach to the end of the verb, forming a single written word. An accent mark is often added to keep the original stress in place. Dímelo ("tell it to me"), levántate ("get up"), cómpralo ("buy it").
• Negative commands: pronouns go before the verb, as separate words. No me lo digas, no te levantes, no lo compres.

A related quirk: reflexive nosotros affirmative commands drop the -s before the reflexive nos. So sentemos + nos becomes sentémonos (not sentémosnos). Same with vámonos (from vamos + nos).

Softened alternatives

Commands in Spanish can sound blunt, the way they do in English. Native speakers soften commands in several ways — especially when asking favors of strangers, or speaking in formal contexts.

Use the conditional

Use a question with the present indicative

Add por favor or si no te importa

These softeners matter socially. A bare pasa la sal can come across as brusque between strangers; ¿me pasas la sal? is warmer and much more common in real-life Spanish.

Indirect commands (que + subjunctive)

A separate pattern, called the indirect command, is used when you're telling someone to pass along an instruction to a third party, or expressing a wish. It uses que + present subjunctive.

This construction is sometimes called a "third-person command." English sometimes uses "let" or "have" to render it: let him do it, have her call me.

English-speaker pitfalls

Pitfall 1: Using the affirmative tú form as a negative.

• Incorrect: No habla tan rápido.
• Correct: No hables tan rápido.

(The first sentence actually means "He doesn't speak so fast," not "Don't speak so fast.")

Pitfall 2: Putting pronouns before affirmative commands.

• Incorrect: Me dilo ahora.
• Correct: Dímelo ahora.

Pitfall 3: Attaching pronouns to negative commands.

• Incorrect: No dímelo.
• Correct: No me lo digas.

Pitfall 4: Forgetting the accent on a multi-syllable affirmative with pronouns.

• Incorrect: Compramelo.
• Correct: Cómpramelo.

Pitfall 5: Using vosotros forms in Latin America.

• Incorrect (in Latin America): Hablad más despacio.
• Correct: Hablen más despacio. (ustedes)

Pitfall 6: Treating sé (be!) as the same as sé (I know).

These are homographs. Sé bueno = "Be good"; Yo sé la respuesta = "I know the answer." Context always makes it clear.

Dialogue

A short dialogue in a household on a weekday morning, using a mix of command forms.

Madre: ¡Niños, levántense ya! Es tarde. Hijo: Ay, mamá, dame cinco minutos más. Madre: No, ven ahora. Lávate los dientes, ponte el uniforme y baja a desayunar. Hija: Mamá, ¿dónde está mi mochila? Madre: Búscala en la sala. Y no corras, que te puedes caer. Hijo: Mamá, ¿me preparas un sándwich? Madre: Ya te preparé uno, está en la cocina. Cómetelo en el camino si no tienes tiempo. Hija: ¡Encontré la mochila! Madre: Perfecto. Vámonos, el colegio empieza en veinte minutos. Hijo: Espera, no te vayas sin mí. Madre: Apúrate entonces. Y pórtate bien en la escuela hoy, ¿me oyes? Hijo: Sí, mamá. Madre: Que tengas un buen día, mi amor.

Notice how many different imperative forms appear: levántense (ustedes reflexive), dame (tú affirmative with pronoun), ven (irregular tú), lávate, ponte (tú reflexive with accent), baja (regular tú), búscala (tú with direct object), no corras (tú negative), cómetelo (tú with two pronouns), vámonos (nosotros reflexive), no te vayas (tú negative reflexive), apúrate (tú reflexive with accent), pórtate (tú reflexive with accent), que tengas (indirect command).

Summary table

Your roadmap

The rest of this section tackles each command form in detail:

• Tú: Regular Affirmative
• Tú: Irregular Affirmative
• Tú: Negative Commands
• Usted Commands
• Ustedes Commands
• Nosotros Commands (Let's)