Giving commands and instructions
To give a command, offer advice, or make a request, use the imperative mood. You form it by using the present tense of the verb but dropping the subject pronoun completely.
Use the vous form to address multiple people or someone you would speak to formally.
| Close the door, please. | Fermez la porte, s'il vous plaît. |
| Continue straight ahead, the park is on the left. | Continuez tout droit, le parc est à gauche. |
Informal commands (the tu form)
When giving an order to a friend, family member, or child, use the tu form without the pronoun.
There is one important spelling rule for regular -er verbs (like donner, garder, and traverser): you must drop the final "s" in the imperative.
- tu donnes → donne
- tu gardes → garde
| Give this book to your brother. | Donne ce livre à ton frère. |
| Keep this secret to yourself. | Garde ce secret pour toi. |
Making suggestions with nous
You can use the imperative with the nous form to include yourself in the command. This is the French equivalent of saying "Let's..."
| Let's show our project to the client. | Montrons notre projet au client. |
| Let's stay calm, there is no problem. | Restons calmes, il n'y a pas de problème. |
Negative commands
To tell someone not to do something, wrap the verb in ne (or n') and pas.
| Don't give bread to the dog ! | Ne donnez pas de pain au chien ! |
| Let's not watch this movie. | Ne regardons pas ce film. |
To issue a stronger warning meaning "never", simply replace pas with jamais.
| Never cross this bridge ! | Ne traversez jamais ce pont ! |
