The vosotros imperative is one of the topics where peninsular Spanish parts ways from Latin American Spanish completely. In Latin America, vosotros does not exist in everyday speech — the plural informal you collapsed into ustedes centuries ago, and the imperative for "you all" is the ustedes imperative (coman, hablen, escriban). In Spain, vosotros is alive and well, used millions of times a day, and it has its own imperative form: comed, hablad, escribid.
There is a wrinkle, though, and it is bigger than the textbooks let on. The -d ending that grammar books teach (comed, hablad) is the prescribed form — the one the Real Academia recognises as correct. But in actual spoken Spain, the -d form is almost never produced in casual speech. Spaniards routinely use the infinitive form (comer, hablar, escribir) where prescriptive grammar wants the imperative (comed, hablad, escribid). This page lays out both the prescribed form and the colloquial reality, because as a learner you need to recognise the colloquial form (you will hear it constantly) and to produce the prescribed form (for writing and for any context where correctness matters).
Why this matters for English speakers
The classic English-speaker error with peninsular plural imperatives is not the -d vs -r distinction — it is using the wrong form entirely. Many English-language Spanish courses teach Latin American Spanish, where the ustedes imperative (coman, hablen) is the only plural form. Students arrive in Spain producing coman, hablen, escriban to groups of friends, which sounds bizarrely formal — as if an English speaker addressed a group of mates as "Gentlemen, would you kindly proceed with eating?"
If you are learning peninsular Spanish, the vosotros imperative is your default for plural informal commands. Ustedes imperative survives only for formal plural address (a board of directors, an audience, elderly strangers — and even then it is increasingly rare).
The prescribed form: -d on the infinitive stem
Forming the affirmative vosotros imperative is mechanically simple: take the infinitive, drop the -r, add -d. This rule has no exceptions — every verb in Spanish, including the most irregular ones, follows this pattern in the affirmative vosotros imperative.
| Infinitive | Vosotros imperative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hablar | hablad | speak (you all) |
| comer | comed | eat (you all) |
| escribir | escribid | write (you all) |
| venir | venid | come (you all) |
| tener | tened | have / hold (you all) |
| ser | sed | be (you all) |
| ir | id | go (you all) |
| hacer | haced | do / make (you all) |
| poner | poned | put (you all) |
| salir | salid | leave (you all) |
The stem irregularities that affect tú imperatives (ven, ten, haz, pon, sal, sé, ve) do not appear in the vosotros imperative. The vosotros form is always built on the regular infinitive stem with -d.
¡Venid aquí, niños, que la cena está lista!
Come here, kids, dinner's ready! — Venid, regularly formed from venir.
Comed despacio, que hay mucho.
Eat slowly, there's plenty. — Comed at the family table.
Hablad más alto, no os oigo desde aquí.
Speak up, I can't hear you from here. — Hablad, addressed to a group.
Tened cuidado al cruzar la calle.
Be careful crossing the street. — Tened, regular -d form from tener.
Sed buenos con la abuela cuando os visite.
Be good to grandma when she visits you. — Sed, the imperative of ser, also takes -d. (Note: 'sed' is also the noun 'thirst' — context disambiguates.)
The colloquial form: the infinitive used as imperative
Here is where prescribed grammar and spoken reality diverge sharply. In casual spoken Spain, the -d ending is almost never produced. Instead, Spaniards use the bare infinitive: comer, hablar, venir, callar — identical to the dictionary form of the verb.
This is prescriptively incorrect but descriptively universal in spoken peninsular Spanish. Every Spaniard does it; most are not consciously aware they are breaking a rule. In writing and in formal speech, the -d form remains the norm; in everyday conversation, the -r form dominates.
¡Venir aquí, niños!
Come here, kids! — Colloquial spoken form, prescriptively wrong but ubiquitous. A Spanish parent shouts this at the playground hundreds of times without thinking 'I should be saying venid'.
Callar ya, que estoy intentando dormir.
Be quiet, I'm trying to sleep. — Colloquial spoken form. The prescribed form is callad.
Mirar lo que ha hecho el perro en el sofá.
Look what the dog has done on the sofa. — Colloquial. Prescribed: mirad.
Comer despacio, que hay mucho.
Eat slowly, there's plenty. — Colloquial. Prescribed: comed.
The -r form is so entrenched that some Spaniards consider the -d form stiff or theatrical in casual speech — as if you suddenly started speaking Shakespearean English at the dinner table. There are contexts where the -d form is consciously chosen for emphasis or solemnity (a teacher addressing a class formally, a priest in a homily, a parent speaking with deliberate weight), but for the bulk of everyday command-giving in Spain, -r wins.
Reflexive vosotros imperatives: levantaos (prescribed), levantaros (colloquial)
The reflexive vosotros imperative is where the prescribed-vs-colloquial split gets messy. The prescribed rule: drop the -d and add the reflexive pronoun -os directly to the stem. Levantar → levantad + os → levantad-os → levantaos (the -d disappears entirely). Sentar → sentaos. Callar → callaos.
The colloquial form: keep the infinitive -r and add -os. Levantarse → levantar + os → levantaros. This is wrong by Real Academia rules but ubiquitous in speech.
| Reflexive infinitive | Prescribed | Colloquial | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| levantarse | levantaos | levantaros | get up (you all) |
| sentarse | sentaos | sentaros | sit down (you all) |
| callarse | callaos | callaros | shut up (you all) |
| ducharse | duchaos | ducharos | shower (you all) |
| vestirse | vestíos | vestiros | get dressed (you all) |
| irse | idos (rare) / iros (accepted) | iros | go away (you all) |
Important exception: the verb ir(se) has historically had the irregular reflexive vosotros imperative idos (prescribed) — pronounced as essentially a single syllable. Because idos sounds odd to modern Spaniards, the colloquial form iros became so universal that the Real Academia officially accepted iros in 2017. For irse, both idos and iros are now standard. For every other reflexive verb, the prescribed form keeps the -d-dropping rule (levantaos, not levantaros).
¡Levantaos ya, que llegamos tarde al cole!
Get up already, we're late for school! — Prescribed form, parent to children, often heard in this register.
¡Levantaros ya, vamos!
Get up already, come on! — Colloquial form, equally common in speech.
Sentaos un momento, que tengo algo que deciros.
Sit down for a moment, I have something to tell you. — Prescribed reflexive form, slightly more formal-feeling.
Iros a la cama ya, mañana hay cole.
Go to bed now, school tomorrow. — Iros accepted by RAE since 2017 alongside the older idos.
Callaos, por favor, que está hablando la profesora.
Quiet, please, the teacher is speaking. — Prescribed form in a slightly more formal classroom context.
The negative vosotros imperative: subjunctive only
Here the rules are clean — no spoken-vs-prescribed split. The negative vosotros imperative is built from the present subjunctive vosotros form. Not from the infinitive, not from the affirmative imperative — from the subjunctive.
- hablar → present subjunctive habléis → negative imperative no habléis
- comer → present subjunctive comáis → negative imperative no comáis
- escribir → present subjunctive escribáis → negative imperative no escribáis
- venir → present subjunctive vengáis → negative imperative no vengáis
- hacer → present subjunctive hagáis → negative imperative no hagáis
- ir → present subjunctive vayáis → negative imperative no vayáis
- ser → present subjunctive seáis → negative imperative no seáis
Crucially: every irregularity of the present subjunctive carries through. Venir has subjunctive venga / vengáis, so the negative imperative is no vengáis, not no veníd-anything.
No habléis tan alto en la biblioteca.
Don't talk so loud in the library. — Negative imperative = subjunctive habléis.
No vengáis hasta después de las ocho.
Don't come until after eight. — Subjunctive vengáis, with the irregular vowel change inherited from venga.
No hagáis ruido, que el bebé está durmiendo.
Don't make noise, the baby's sleeping. — Subjunctive hagáis from hacer.
No seáis pesados, dejad ya el tema.
Don't be annoying, drop it already. — Negative seáis + affirmative dejad in one sentence; both peninsular.
For reflexive negative imperatives, the pronoun goes before the verb (unlike the affirmative, where it attaches to the end): No os levantéis, no os sentéis, no os caigáis. The pronoun-before-verb pattern is the regular rule for all negative imperatives in Spanish.
No os levantéis todavía, que voy a sacar más vino.
Don't get up yet, I'm going to get more wine. — Reflexive os before the negative subjunctive levantéis.
No os preocupéis, todo va a salir bien.
Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. — Os before preocupéis.
The full paradigm for hablar
A complete picture of the vosotros imperative for one regular verb:
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Plain (prescribed) | hablad | no habléis |
| Plain (colloquial) | hablar | no habléis (same) |
| Reflexive (prescribed) | callaos | no os calléis |
| Reflexive (colloquial) | callaros | no os calléis (same) |
| With direct object pronoun | habladle / habladme / habladnos | no le habléis / no me habléis |
Note that the colloquial-vs-prescribed split is only in the affirmative. The negative form is the same regardless of register, because it is built from the subjunctive and the -d does not appear there.
English-speaker traps with the vosotros imperative
Trap 1: defaulting to the ustedes imperative. The most common English-speaker error is not vosotros-vs-vosotros, it is vosotros missing entirely.
❌ Coman ya, niños, que la cena se enfría.
To a group of children in Spain — over-formal. 'Coman' is the ustedes imperative; in Spain, with children or friends, you use vosotros: comed (prescribed) or comer (colloquial).
✅ Comed ya, niños, que la cena se enfría.
Eat already, kids, dinner's getting cold. — Vosotros imperative, the natural peninsular form.
Trap 2: producing the -d form awkwardly. When learners do learn the -d form, they sometimes apply it where it doesn't belong — e.g., in reflexive constructions.
❌ Levantados ya, que llegamos tarde.
Wrong — there is no -d-os-s structure. Either levantaos (prescribed) or levantaros (colloquial).
✅ Levantaos ya, que llegamos tarde.
Get up already, we're going to be late. — Prescribed reflexive form, -d disappears before -os.
Trap 3: forgetting that negative vosotros uses the subjunctive. Students sometimes try to negate the affirmative form (no comed) instead of switching to the subjunctive.
❌ No comed tan rápido, niños.
Wrong — the negative imperative for vosotros is the subjunctive, not 'no' + affirmative.
✅ No comáis tan rápido, niños.
Don't eat so fast, kids. — Subjunctive comáis.
Pronoun placement reminder
Pronouns attach to the end of affirmative imperatives and precede negative ones.
Dádselo a vuestro padre.
Give it to your father. — Affirmative: dad + se + lo = dádselo, with accent to preserve stress.
No se lo deis a vuestro padre.
Don't give it to your father. — Negative: pronouns before the subjunctive deis.
Decídmelo ahora mismo.
Tell it to me right now. — Decid + me + lo = decídmelo (accent on the í).
No me lo digáis ahora, esperad un poco.
Don't tell me now, wait a bit. — Negative: me lo before digáis, then affirmative esperad.
When attaching pronouns to vosotros imperatives, the accent often moves up to maintain stress: decid → decídmelo. This is mandatory for written Spanish; getting the accent right is part of producing the form correctly.
Common Mistakes
❌ Coman ya, chicos.
Ustedes imperative used with vosotros context — sounds formal/Latin American in Spain. Default to vosotros with informal addressees.
✅ Comed ya, chicos. / Comer ya, chicos. (colloquial)
Eat already, kids. — Vosotros imperative; either prescribed comed or colloquial comer is fine in casual speech.
❌ Levantarse ya, niños.
Using the bare reflexive infinitive — wrong even in colloquial use. The infinitive is the verb, but the reflexive pronoun must agree with vosotros: os.
✅ Levantaos ya, niños. / Levantaros ya, niños. (colloquial)
Get up already, kids. — Reflexive os, prescribed levantaos or colloquial levantaros.
❌ No comed tan deprisa.
Negative imperative formed wrongly — cannot just put 'no' before the affirmative imperative.
✅ No comáis tan deprisa.
Don't eat so fast. — Negative imperative = subjunctive comáis.
❌ Idvos a la cama.
Made-up form — neither prescribed nor colloquial. The correct forms are idos (rare/archaic) or iros (accepted since 2017).
✅ Iros a la cama.
Go to bed. — Iros is now standard for the reflexive vosotros imperative of irse.
❌ Dadme lo.
Pronouns not properly attached — must be a single word.
✅ Dádmelo.
Give it to me. — Dad + me + lo, written as one word, with accent on the á to preserve stress.
Key takeaways
- The vosotros imperative is peninsular-specific — the everyday form for plural informal commands in Spain. In Latin America, ustedes covers this ground.
- Affirmative form (prescribed): drop the -r of the infinitive, add -d. Hablar → hablad, comer → comed, escribir → escribid. No exceptions.
- Affirmative form (colloquial): Spaniards routinely use the bare infinitive (hablar, comer, escribir) instead of the prescribed -d form. This is wrong on paper but universal in speech. Recognise it; produce the -d form yourself.
- Reflexive (prescribed): drop the -d and add -os. Levantad + os → levantaos. Iros is the special case — accepted as standard for irse since 2017.
- Reflexive (colloquial): keep the -r and add -os. Levantaros. Not prescribed, but everywhere in speech.
- Negative form: always the subjunctive. No habléis, no comáis, no vengáis, no os levantéis. No spoken-vs-prescribed split here.
- Pronoun placement: end of affirmative (dádmelo, callaos), before negative (no me lo deis, no os calléis).
- The biggest English-speaker error is not the -d-vs-r choice but defaulting to ustedes imperative in informal plural address. Coman/hablen to your friends sounds Latin American in Spain; the peninsular default is vosotros.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
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