The Spanish imperative has a split personality when it comes to pronouns: affirmative commands attach the pronoun to the end of the verb as a written suffix (hazlo, cómelos, llámala), while negative commands push the pronoun in front of the verb where it stays as a separate word (no lo hagas, no los comas, no la llames). The same verb, the same pronoun, two completely different word shapes depending on polarity. This page walks through both positions, the vosotros forms peculiar to Spain, and the written-accent rule that learners drop more often than any other.
Affirmative commands: pronoun attached
In the affirmative imperative, the direct object pronoun attaches to the end of the verb. There is no space, no hyphen — verb and pronoun become a single orthographic word.
Hazlo ya, que se nos hace tarde.
Do it now, we're running late.
Cómelos antes de que se enfríen.
Eat them before they get cold.
Llámala esta noche, lleva esperando todo el día.
Call her tonight, she's been waiting all day.
The attached pronoun cannot be separated. Haz lo with a space, haz-lo with a hyphen, lo haz in front — none of these exist in Spanish. The affirmative imperative is a single word that fuses verb and clitic.
Negative commands: pronoun in front
In the negative imperative, the pronoun moves to its normal preverbal slot. The negation no comes first, then the pronoun, then the verb — three separate words.
No lo hagas todavía, espera a que llegue tu padre.
Don't do it yet, wait for your dad to arrive.
No los comas, son para la cena.
Don't eat them, they're for dinner.
No la llames a estas horas, estará durmiendo.
Don't call her at this hour, she'll be asleep.
The whole pattern can be summarised on a single line:
¡Hazlo! ↔ ¡No lo hagas!
Same verb, same pronoun, polarity flips the position.
Why this split exists
The reason for the asymmetry is historical and prosodic. Affirmative commands in Latin already attracted unstressed pronouns to a postverbal position; negation broke that prosodic unit and forced the pronoun back into its default proclitic slot. Modern Spanish preserves the split exactly. The no in no lo hagas is what "blocks" the pronoun from climbing to the back of the verb — and the same effect appears with any preverbal particle in commands, including the negation que no in indirect commands (que no lo hagas).
For English speakers, this split has no parallel. English keeps the pronoun position constant: do it / don't do it. The position of it never moves. Spanish moves it, and you have to retrain your mouth and your fingers.
The tú command paradigm with direct objects
| Verb | Affirmative (tú) |
| Negative (tú) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hacer | haz | hazlo | no hagas | no lo hagas |
| comer | come | cómelo | no comas | no lo comas |
| decir | di | dilo | no digas | no lo digas |
| traer | trae | tráelo | no traigas | no lo traigas |
| llamar | llama | llámalo | no llames | no lo llames |
| poner | pon | ponlo | no pongas | no lo pongas |
Two things to note in this table. First, the verb stem stays exactly the same in both polarities, with the only difference being whether the pronoun attaches or floats. Second — and this is the big trap — once the pronoun attaches, an accent often appears.
The accent rule (do not skip this section)
When a pronoun attaches to an affirmative imperative, the stress of the verb does not move. Come is stressed on the co-. When you attach los, the stress is still on the co-: cómelos. That stress sits three syllables from the end of the word — that's an esdrújula — and Spanish writes an accent on every esdrújula. So cómelos must have an accent on the o.
If you write comelos without the accent, you have spelled it wrong. Native readers will notice. Search engines and dictionaries will fail you. This is the single most common spelling error learners make with attached pronouns.
| Plain verb |
| Why the accent? |
|---|---|---|
| haz | hazlo | Two syllables, stress on first — llana ending in vowel, no accent needed. |
| come | cómelos | Stress three syllables back — esdrújula, accent required. |
| llama | llámala | Stress three syllables back — esdrújula, accent required. |
| compra | cómpralo | Stress three syllables back — esdrújula, accent required. |
| di | dilo | Two syllables, stress on first — llana ending in vowel, no accent. |
| di | dímelo | Three syllables, esdrújula — accent required (covered in combined pronouns). |
Vosotros commands in peninsular Spanish
In Spain, the informal plural command (vosotros) is a live, everyday form. The affirmative vosotros command ends in -d (hablad, comed, escribid) and the pronoun attaches normally.
Hacedlo cuanto antes, por favor.
Do it as soon as you can, please.
Comedlos mientras estén calientes.
Eat them while they're still warm.
Llamadla en cuanto sepáis algo.
Call her as soon as you know something.
The negative vosotros command uses the present subjunctive (habléis, comáis, escribáis) and the pronoun moves in front.
No lo hagáis sin pensarlo bien.
Don't do it without thinking it through.
No los compréis ahí, son carísimos.
Don't buy them there, they're really expensive.
No la molestéis, está estudiando.
Don't bother her, she's studying.
The reflexive vosotros trap: -d drops before os
When the vosotros command is reflexive — that is, when the pronoun attaching is os (the reflexive vosotros clitic) — the final -d of the verb drops. This is a peninsular Spanish rule with no equivalent in Latin America, where vosotros is not used at all.
| Infinitive | Expected form | Actual form |
|---|---|---|
| levantarse | *levantados | levantaos |
| sentarse | *sentados | sentaos |
| callarse | *callados | callaos |
| moverse | *movedos | moveos |
| vestirse | *vestidos | vestíos |
The single exception is ir (to go), where the reflexive vosotros command keeps the d: idos (informally also iros, increasingly accepted but historically discouraged).
Sentaos donde queráis, hay sitio de sobra.
Sit wherever you want, there's plenty of room.
Callaos un momento, que no oigo nada.
Be quiet for a moment, I can't hear anything.
This -d drop only happens with os. A vosotros command attaching a non-reflexive direct object pronoun keeps the -d: hacedlo, comedlos, llamadla.
Usted commands
The polite singular command (usted) is built from the present subjunctive: haga, coma, llame. Pronoun placement follows the same affirmative-attach / negative-front rule.
Hágalo cuando tenga un momento.
Do it when you have a moment.
No lo haga sin consultarme primero.
Don't do it without consulting me first.
Llámela en cuanto pueda, por favor.
Call her as soon as you can, please.
No la llame todavía, espere mis instrucciones.
Don't call her yet, wait for my instructions.
In Spain, ustedes (formal plural) is reserved for formal address — public announcements, customer service, addressing elders one doesn't know well. For everyday plural commands, vosotros is the default.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hace lo.
Incorrect — the affirmative tú command of hacer is haz, and the pronoun must attach.
✅ Hazlo.
Do it.
❌ No hazlo.
Incorrect — the affirmative imperative form (haz) cannot be used after no; the negative command uses the subjunctive.
✅ No lo hagas.
Don't do it.
❌ Comelos antes de que se enfríen.
Incorrect — missing the obligatory written accent on the esdrújula.
✅ Cómelos antes de que se enfríen.
Eat them before they get cold.
❌ Levantados, que es tarde.
Incorrect — the final -d drops before reflexive os in peninsular Spanish.
✅ Levantaos, que es tarde.
Get up, it's late.
❌ No lo hagas ahora, lo hagas después.
Incorrect — the negative imperative is used both times; the second clause needs the affirmative imperative.
✅ No lo hagas ahora, hazlo después.
Don't do it now, do it later.
The last example shows both sides of the split in a single sentence: no lo hagas (negative, pronoun in front) versus hazlo (affirmative, pronoun attached). Internalising this contrast is the whole point of the page.
Key takeaways
- Affirmative command: pronoun attached to the end (hazlo, cómelos, llámala).
- Negative command: pronoun in front (no lo hagas, no los comas, no la llames).
- When attaching makes the word an esdrújula (three or more syllables with stress on the third-from-last), a written accent is obligatory: cómelos, llámala, cómpralo.
- Vosotros affirmative ends in -d (hacedlo) but the -d drops before reflexive os (sentaos, levantaos, callaos).
- The same verb stem appears in both polarities — what changes is the pronoun's position and the verb's mood (imperative vs. subjunctive).
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Pronombres de complemento directo: me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, lasA1 — The direct object pronouns of peninsular Spanish, including the *vosotros* companion *os* and the RAE-accepted *leísmo de persona* for masculine human direct objects.
- Posición del complemento directoA2 — Where direct object pronouns sit in the Spanish sentence — before a conjugated verb, attached to infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives — with the obligatory written accent that often follows.
- Complemento directo con infinitivosA2 — With a conjugated verb plus an infinitive (voy a hacerlo / lo voy a hacer), the direct object pronoun can either climb to the front or attach to the infinitive — both are correct and natural.
- Pronombres combinados con imperativosB1 — Affirmative commands attach combined pronouns to the end of the verb with an obligatory accent (¡Dímelo!), while negative commands keep pronouns in front (¡No me lo digas!) — the split is one of the cleanest tests of imperative mastery in peninsular Spanish.
- Imperativo: visión generalA2 — The master map of the Spanish imperative — affirmative and negative commands for tú, vosotros, usted, ustedes and nosotros — with the peninsular vosotros form as its headline feature.
- Pronombres con el imperativo afirmativoA2 — In affirmative commands, object and reflexive pronouns attach to the end of the verb to form a single written word — dímelo, levántate, ponéoslo.
- Imperativo afirmativo de vosotros: ¡hablad!A2 — The peninsular affirmative vosotros command — replace the -r of the infinitive with -d, drop the -d before reflexives, and never substitute the infinitive.