The Spanish imperative has a quirk that catches every learner off guard: where the object pronouns go depends entirely on whether the command is positive or negative. Tell someone to do something and the pronouns fuse onto the back of the verb, often forcing a written accent (¡Dímelo!). Tell them not to do it and the pronouns flip to the front (¡No me lo digas!). Same verb, same pronouns, same meaning structure — completely opposite placement. This split is real, it's absolute, and once you internalise it, your imperatives will sound dramatically more native. This page walks through the rule, the accent mechanics, the peninsular vosotros forms, and the common errors English speakers make.
The core rule
Affirmative command → pronouns attach to the end of the verb.
Negative command → pronouns go before the verb, as usual.
¡Dímelo ahora mismo!
Tell me right now!
¡No me lo digas ahora, espera!
Don't tell me now, wait!
¡Cuéntaselo a tu padre!
Tell your father about it!
¡No se lo cuentes a nadie!
Don't tell anyone about it!
The order inside the cluster (SE-TE-ME-LO; indirect before direct) does not change. What changes is whether the cluster sits in front of the verb or fused onto the back.
Why the split? A historical glimpse
Both positions are descendants of medieval Spanish. In the older language, clitic pronouns followed all finite verbs — what's called the enclisis pattern. Over time, Spanish moved most of these clitics in front of the verb (proclisis), except in three contexts where the older enclisis hung on: the infinitive, the gerund, and the affirmative imperative. The negative imperative, by contrast, was reanalysed as a present subjunctive construction (no digas is morphologically subjunctive), and subjunctives behave like other conjugated verbs — pronouns in front.
So the rule has internal logic: enclisis on non-finite/imperative forms (where the verb feels "stripped"), proclisis everywhere else. The negative imperative looks like an exception only on the surface.
The accent rule for affirmative commands
When the pronoun cluster attaches to the back of an imperative, the verb gets a written accent on the syllable that was originally stressed. The mechanics are the same as with infinitives, but the trigger is different: with imperatives, even a single attached pronoun can require an accent if it pushes the stress beyond the penultimate.
| Bare imperative |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| di (say) | dime | dímelo |
| cuenta (tell) | cuéntame | cuéntamelo |
| explica (explain) | explícame | explícamelo |
| dad (give — vosotros) | dadme | dádmelo |
| poned (put — vosotros) | ponedme | ponédmelo |
Cuéntamelo todo, no te dejes nada.
Tell me everything, don't leave anything out.
Explícamelo otra vez, por favor — me he perdido.
Explain it to me again, please — I've lost track.
Dádmelo cuanto antes.
Give it to me as soon as possible.
The accent appears on the originally-stressed vowel of the verb stem: cuén-, explí-, dád-. Spelt without it, the word is misspelt and stress is ambiguous.
The peninsular vosotros command — -d drops, sometimes
Peninsular Spanish has a unique imperative for vosotros: it ends in -d. Decid (tell), poned (put), cantad (sing). When pronouns attach, this -d mostly stays — but one specific combination drops it: when the reflexive os attaches to the affirmative vosotros imperative, the -d disappears.
| Verb | Vosotros imperative |
|
|---|---|---|
| sentarse | sentad | sentaos |
| callarse | callad | callaos |
| levantarse | levantad | levantaos |
| irse | id | idos (irregular: keeps d) |
¡Sentaos donde queráis, hay sitio para todos!
Sit wherever you like, there's room for everyone!
¡Callaos un momento, no se oye la tele!
Be quiet for a moment, I can't hear the TV!
For combined pronouns with vosotros commands, the -d stays before non-reflexive clitics: Decídmelo (tell it to me), Mandádnoslo (send it to us).
¡Decídmelo de una vez, llevo todo el día esperando!
Just tell me already, I've been waiting all day!
¡Mandádselo por email cuando lo terminéis!
Email it to him when you finish!
Combined pronouns with nosotros commands
The nosotros imperative (let's...) also takes attached pronouns in the affirmative — and like the vosotros reflexive, it drops the final -s when nos is attached.
| Verb | Nosotros imperative |
|
|---|---|---|
| sentarse | sentemos | sentémonos |
| irse | vamos | vámonos |
| levantarse | levantemos | levantémonos |
Vámonos pronto, que va a empezar a llover.
Let's go soon, it's about to rain.
Contémoselo a tus padres durante la cena.
Let's tell your parents about it during dinner.
The vamos form is irregular: it doesn't come from the subjunctive vayamos (which exists but sounds very formal), but from the indicative.
The le → se rule still applies
When you combine an indirect le/les with a direct lo/la/los/las in an imperative, the indirect becomes se — exactly as with any other verb form. The substitution happens before the cluster is placed.
¡Díselo a tu hermana, ella te entenderá!
Tell your sister, she'll understand you!
¡No se lo digas todavía, es una sorpresa!
Don't tell him yet, it's a surprise!
¡Cómpraselo si tanto le gusta!
Buy it for him if he likes it that much!
Notice that affirmative attaches the cluster (díselo, cómpraselo) while negative keeps it in front (no se lo digas). The substitution itself doesn't care about position.
Negative commands — same as any other proclitic context
Negative commands behave like any other conjugated verb in placement: pronouns sit in front, in standard SE-TE-ME-LO order.
No me lo cuentes ahora, estoy ocupado.
Don't tell me about it now, I'm busy.
No te lo creas — está mintiendo.
Don't believe it — he's lying.
No nos lo pidáis, ya hemos dicho que no.
Don't ask us — we've already said no.
No se lo digáis a vuestros padres, por favor.
Don't tell your parents, please.
There is no accent issue in negative commands because the pronouns don't fuse onto the verb — they're separate words, like any other clitic before a finite verb.
When affirmative and negative commands meet in the same speech act
A real-life conversation often uses both in quick succession, which is the perfect way to internalise the contrast.
¡Díselo a Marta, pero no se lo digas a Pablo!
Tell Marta about it, but don't tell Pablo!
Cuéntamelo todo, pero no me lo cuentes con detalles morbosos.
Tell me everything, but don't go into morbid detail.
¡Pruébatelo, no te lo quites tan rápido!
Try it on, don't take it off so fast!
Notice the flip in each pair: attached, then proclitic.
Stress patterns to watch
The accent rule generates some specific patterns that learners often miss. Here are the ones worth paying attention to.
One-syllable imperatives still get the accent with two clitics
Even verbs whose imperative is a single syllable add an accent when two pronouns attach.
¡Dámelo enseguida, no aguanto más!
Give it to me right now, I can't stand it any more!
¡Házmelo este finde, por favor!
Do it for me this weekend, please!
Da, haz, di, pon, ten, ve are all monosyllabic imperatives. The bare form has no accent. Add two pronouns and the stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable: dá-me-lo, accent obligatory.
Imperatives with built-in accents keep them
If the imperative already has a written accent (ríe, cuéntame), the accent stays and is part of the rhythm of the attached cluster.
¡Léenoslo en voz alta!
Read it to us aloud!
¡Tráemelo cuando puedas!
Bring it to me when you can!
Comparison with English
English imperatives are flat: Tell me! / Don't tell me!. The pronoun me sits in the same place in both — after the verb (tell) or after the auxiliary (don't tell). There is no positional switch, no fusion, no accent. The Spanish split is genuinely novel for English speakers.
The closest English analogue is the contrast between Tell it to me! (object after) and Don't you tell it to me! (separate words, separate prosody), but even there the to me unit doesn't change shape.
Common Mistakes
❌ Dimelo sin acento.
Incorrect — affirmative command with two attached pronouns requires a written accent on the verb's stressed syllable.
✅ Dímelo.
Tell me.
❌ No dímelo, espera.
Incorrect — negative commands keep pronouns in front, not attached.
✅ No me lo digas, espera.
Don't tell me, wait.
❌ ¡Dile lo a tu padre!
Incorrect — combined pronouns become se lo (le + lo → se lo) and must attach as a unit.
✅ ¡Díselo a tu padre!
Tell your father!
❌ ¡Sentados!
Incorrect peninsular vosotros reflexive — drop the -d before -os: sentaos.
✅ ¡Sentaos!
Sit down (you all)!
❌ ¡No cuéntamelo!
Incorrect — negative commands take proclitic pronouns and the verb is subjunctive (cuentes, not cuenta).
✅ ¡No me lo cuentes!
Don't tell me!
❌ ¡Vamosnos ahora!
Incorrect nosotros reflexive — drop the -s before nos: vámonos.
✅ ¡Vámonos ahora!
Let's go now!
Key takeaways
- Affirmative commands attach pronouns to the verb's end: ¡Dímelo!, ¡Cuéntaselo!, ¡Decídmelo!.
- Negative commands keep pronouns in front: ¡No me lo digas!, ¡No se lo cuentes!.
- Two pronouns attached to a command always trigger a written accent on the originally-stressed syllable.
- The le → se substitution applies regardless of placement.
- Peninsular reflexive vosotros commands drop the final -d before -os: sentaos, callaos.
- The nosotros command drops final -s before nos: vámonos, sentémonos.
- The order inside the cluster is always SE-TE-ME-LO — only the position relative to the verb changes.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Orden de los pronombres: SE-TE-ME-LOA2 — When two or more object pronouns cluster before the same verb, Spanish always orders them the same way — and once you learn the mnemonic SE-TE-ME-LO, you never have to think about it again.
- Cuando 'le' se convierte en 'se' (lo, la, los, las)B1 — When both le/les (indirect) and lo/la/los/las (direct) meet before the same verb, le/les obligatorily becomes 'se' — and this single rule explains the most common cardinal error of intermediate Spanish.
- Pronombres combinados con infinitivosB1 — When a verb phrase has a conjugated verb plus an infinitive, combined object pronouns can either sit before the conjugated verb (Me lo va a decir) or attach to the end of the infinitive (Va a decírmelo) — both are correct, but the accent on the attached form is non-negotiable.
- Complemento directo con imperativosA2 — In affirmative commands the direct object pronoun attaches to the end (hazlo, cómelos); in negative commands it slides in front (no lo hagas, no los comas) — with a critical accent rule that learners constantly drop.