Of every form in the Spanish imperative paradigm, the affirmative tú command for regular verbs is the easiest. There is one rule, no exceptions among regular verbs, and the same form is used in Spain and in Latin America. This is the form you reach for when you tell a friend to speak up, eat, write me back, come in, call later — and it will be among the very first imperatives you ever produce in Spanish.
The rule in one sentence
The affirmative tú imperative of any regular verb is identical to the 3rd-person singular of the present indicative.
That is to say: whatever form you use after él, ella or usted in the present tense, that same form — spelled and stressed exactly the same way — is the command you give to tú.
| Infinitive | 3rd-sg present indicative | tú affirmative imperative |
|---|---|---|
| hablar | habla | ¡habla! |
| comer | come | ¡come! |
| vivir | vive | ¡vive! |
| trabajar | trabaja | ¡trabaja! |
| leer | lee | ¡lee! |
| escribir | escribe | ¡escribe! |
| llamar | llama | ¡llama! |
| beber | bebe | ¡bebe! |
| abrir | abre | ¡abre! |
Why this works
Spanish does not invent a special command form for tú affirmative — it recycles the 3rd-singular indicative. Historically this descends from the Latin imperative, which happened to coincide in shape with the Latin 3rd-singular present indicative for first-conjugation verbs. The pattern spread across all three conjugations as Spanish evolved.
For the learner, this overlap is a gift: every time you learn a present-indicative paradigm, you have already learned the tú affirmative imperative for free. Él habla (he speaks) and ¡habla! (speak!) are the same form being put to two different uses.
Habla más despacio, por favor, que no te entiendo nada.
Speak more slowly, please, I'm not understanding you at all.
Come algo antes de salir, llevas todo el día sin probar bocado.
Eat something before you leave, you haven't had a bite all day.
Escribe a tu hermana, lleva semanas sin saber de ti.
Write to your sister, she hasn't heard from you in weeks.
Stem-changing verbs follow the same rule
Verbs that change their stem in the present indicative carry the change into the imperative — because, again, the imperative is the 3rd-singular indicative.
| Infinitive | Stem change | tú imperative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| cerrar | e → ie | ¡cierra! | close |
| pensar | e → ie | ¡piensa! | think |
| volver | o → ue | ¡vuelve! | come back |
| dormir | o → ue | ¡duerme! | sleep |
| pedir | e → i | ¡pide! | ask for |
| repetir | e → i | ¡repite! | repeat |
| jugar | u → ue | ¡juega! | play |
Cierra la ventana, por favor, hay corriente.
Close the window, please, there's a draught.
Vuelve antes de las once, mañana hay que madrugar.
Come back before eleven, we have to get up early tomorrow.
Pídele perdón a tu hermano y olvídalo ya.
Apologise to your brother and let it go already.
Same form in Spain and Latin America
Unlike the vosotros imperative — which is unique to Spain — and unlike the dialectal vos commands of Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Central America, the standard tú affirmative imperative is identical across the entire Spanish-speaking world. Habla, come, vive mean the same thing in Madrid, Mexico City, Bogotá and Buenos Aires. (The vos-speaking varieties use hablá, comé, viví instead, with stress on the final syllable, but that is a separate form layered on top of, not replacing, the tú paradigm.)
This makes the tú affirmative the most portable command form in Spanish — useful information if you are deciding which one to drill first.
Adding pronouns: the accent rule
Object pronouns and reflexive pronouns attach to the end of the affirmative imperative, written as one word.
- Habla + me → háblame (speak to me)
- Come + lo → cómelo (eat it)
- Escribe + nos → escríbenos (write to us)
- Llama + le → llámale (call him)
- Cierra + la → ciérrala (close it)
Notice the written accent that appears on each form. This is obligatory, not optional. Without the accent, the stress would shift to follow the default Spanish stress rules, and the word would be mispronounced. Háblame keeps the stress on the -a- of habla; without the accent, hablame would be stressed on the -la-, which is wrong.
Two pronouns can attach in sequence:
- Da + me + lo → dámelo (give it to me)
- Compra + te + lo → cómpratelo (buy it for yourself)
- Manda + se + lo → mándaselo (send it to him/her/them)
The accent moves left as more pronouns attach, keeping the original stress in place.
Háblame de tu viaje a Japón, quiero saberlo todo.
Tell me about your trip to Japan, I want to know everything.
Cómpratelo si te hace ilusión, no hace falta que te lo pienses tanto.
Buy it for yourself if it makes you happy, you don't need to think about it so much.
Mándame un mensaje cuando llegues, aunque sea tarde.
Send me a message when you arrive, even if it's late.
Spelling-change verbs
Verbs whose stem ends in a "soft-sound risk" letter undergo a spelling change in some forms — but not in the tú affirmative imperative, because the 3rd-singular indicative already keeps the soft sound. Coger (to take) → coge (not cogue); pagar (to pay) → paga; practicar (to practise) → practica. The spelling-change pages of the present indicative cover the details; here the takeaway is that the tú imperative inherits whatever spelling the 3rd-singular indicative has.
Coge el paraguas, parece que va a llover.
Grab the umbrella, it looks like it's going to rain.
Register and frequency
The tú imperative is the most frequent command form in everyday peninsular Spanish, by a wide margin. You hear it from parents to children, friends to friends, lovers to each other, baristas to regulars, and in countless fixed expressions:
- Mira (look) — used as a discourse marker meaning "look,…" or "listen,…"
- Oye (hey, listen) — to get someone's attention
- Venga (come on) — a discourse marker rather than a literal imperative
- Vale (OK) — fixed agreement marker; not a command, but related forms
- Toma (here, take this) — handing something over
These are so worn-down by frequency that native speakers rarely think of them as imperatives at all — they function as connective tissue in conversation.
Oye, ¿me pasas la sal?
Hey, can you pass me the salt?
Common Mistakes
❌ Comelo antes de que se enfríe.
Incorrect — missing the obligatory accent on the attached pronoun.
✅ Cómelo antes de que se enfríe.
Eat it before it goes cold.
❌ Hablame de tu día.
Incorrect — missing the obligatory accent.
✅ Háblame de tu día.
Tell me about your day.
❌ ¡Hablar más alto!
Incorrect — Spanish learners often use the infinitive as a generic command, transferring from a colloquial Spanish pattern, but for tú the standard form is the 3rd-singular indicative.
✅ ¡Habla más alto!
Speak up!
❌ Escribame cuando puedas.
Incorrect — missing the obligatory written accent, and the stem belongs to the usted imperative (escríbame), not to tú.
✅ Escríbeme cuando puedas.
Write to me when you can. (tú)
❌ Bebes el agua, te va a sentar bien.
Incorrect as a command — bebes is the 2nd-singular present indicative ('you drink'). The tú imperative drops the final -s: bebe.
✅ Bebe agua, te va a sentar bien.
Drink some water, it'll do you good.
Key Takeaways
- The tú affirmative imperative of any regular verb is the 3rd-singular present indicative, full stop.
- Stem changes from the present indicative carry over: cerrar → cierra, pedir → pide.
- Attached pronouns require a written accent on the original stressed vowel. This is the single most error-prone aspect of the form.
- The tú imperative is identical in Spain and Latin America — the safest command to learn first when your destination is uncertain.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Imperativo afirmativo de tú: irregularesA2 — The eight famous monosyllabic tú commands — di, haz, ve, pon, sal, sé, ten, ven — that every Spanish learner must memorise.
- Imperativo negativo de túA2 — How to tell a friend not to do something — no + 2nd-singular present subjunctive — with the same form for every verb in Spanish, regular or irregular.
- 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: 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.
- Presente de indicativo: verbos regulares en -arA1 — The six present-indicative endings for regular -ar verbs in peninsular Spanish, including the all-important vosotros form habláis.