Most Spanish verbs follow the regular pattern for the affirmative tú command (third person singular of the present indicative). But eight very common verbs have short, irregular imperatives that you simply have to memorize. The good news: they are all one syllable, and you will use them every day.
These eight forms are among the most frequent words in the entire language — drilling them well now pays dividends every time you ask, instruct, suggest, or warn someone in Spanish.
The eight irregulars
| Infinitive | Meaning | Tú command |
|---|---|---|
| venir | to come | ven |
| decir | to say, to tell | di |
| salir | to leave, to go out | sal |
| hacer | to do, to make | haz |
| tener | to have | ten |
| ir | to go | ve |
| poner | to put | pon |
| ser | to be | sé |
Notice how short each form is — most of them are just two or three letters. That's because these eight verbs lost their ending through centuries of use. They are so common that speakers shortened them until almost nothing was left.
A memory trick to lock them in
A classic mnemonic for these eight forms is the English phrase "Vin Diesel has ten weapons": Ven, Di, Sal, Haz, Ten, Ve, Pon, Sé. The first letters line up almost perfectly. Pick whatever trick works for you — just drill the eight forms until they come out automatically. They are short, frequent, and unforgiving.
Examples in everyday use
Each of these short imperatives appears in dozens of common situations. Here are a few in real-world settings.
Ven acá, por favor.
Come here, please.
Dime la verdad.
Tell me the truth.
Sal de ahí ahora mismo.
Get out of there right now.
Ten cuidado con ese cuchillo.
Be careful with that knife.
Pon los platos en la mesa.
Put the dishes on the table.
Sé amable con tu hermana.
Be nice to your sister.
Two verbs that look alike: ve
The form ve is both "go" (from ir) and "watch/see" (from ver, although ver is regular in this case). Context always makes the meaning clear:
Ve al cine con tus amigos.
Go to the movies with your friends.
Ve esa película, es fantástica.
Watch that movie, it's fantastic.
Compound verbs and their commands
Verbs built on one of these eight irregulars inherit the same short form. So componer → compón, detener → detén, proponer → propón, mantener → mantén, rehacer → rehaz, and so on. Notice that these compounds take a written accent on the last syllable, because the extra prefix makes them end in a consonant with stress on the final syllable.
Mantén la calma en todo momento.
Stay calm at all times.
Detén el carro un momento.
Stop the car for a moment.
The two compounds of ir (irse, desvíate, etc.) and the compound prevenir are the most frequent ones. Whenever the underlying verb is irregular in the tú command, every prefix-built derivative carries the same short form.
With pronouns
Just like regular affirmative tú commands, pronouns attach to the end. Watch out: adding a pronoun usually forces a written accent.
| Command |
|
|---|---|
| di | dime, dímelo |
| haz | hazlo, házmelo |
| pon | ponte, póntelo |
| ten | tenlo, tenme paciencia |
| sal | sal, salte (from salirse) |
Dímelo otra vez, no te escuché.
Tell it to me again, I didn't hear you.
Póntelo, hace mucho frío afuera.
Put it on, it's really cold outside.
Only affirmative
Remember: these irregular short forms exist only for affirmative commands. As soon as you want to say "don't come," "don't tell me," "don't go," the rule changes entirely — you use the present subjunctive (no vengas, no me digas, no vayas). See Tú: Negative Commands for the full story.
Frequent collocations
Each of the eight irregulars travels with a small set of phrases you will hear constantly:
| Command | Common collocations |
|---|---|
| ven | ven acá, ven conmigo, ven aquí |
| di | dime, dímelo, di la verdad |
| sal | sal de aquí, sal afuera |
| haz | haz la tarea, haz el favor de…, haz silencio |
| ten | ten cuidado, ten paciencia, ten fe |
| ve | ve a tu cuarto, ve por agua |
| pon | pon la mesa, pon atención, ponte cómodo |
| sé | sé bueno, sé sincero, sé valiente |
More examples in context
Ven, te quiero mostrar una cosa.
Come, I want to show you something.
Ten paciencia, ya casi llegamos.
Be patient, we're almost there.
Pon la mesa, por favor.
Set the table, please.
For the matching negative forms (no vengas, no digas, no hagas), see Tú: Negative Commands. For the regular pattern that covers every other verb, see Tú: Regular Affirmative.
Related Topics
- Tú: Regular AffirmativeA2 — The easiest command in Spanish: the affirmative tú form for regular verbs.
- Tú: Negative CommandsB1 — Tell someone not to do something with no plus the present subjunctive tú form.
- Imperative OverviewA2 — A tour of Spanish commands and the different forms for tú, usted, nosotros, and ustedes.