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Navigating the subway in a German-speaking city means following a few strict rules. To keep crowds moving safely, announcements and signs use special types of commands. Let's look at how to give general instructions and abrupt orders without addressing anyone in particular.

### General Rules: The Infinitive Command

For public signs, written instructions, and polite but firm announcements, German uses **impersonal commands**. Instead of conjugating a verb to tell a specific person what to do, the sentence simply ends with the verb in its raw **infinitive** form.

This construction is often paired with *bitte* (please) or *nicht* (not), and the action word is always pushed to the very end of the sentence.

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These infinitive commands work just like standard sentences when you need to string multiple instructions together or add extra clauses.

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### Abrupt Orders: The Past Participle Command

When a situation requires an immediate, sharp, and forceful command—often spoken in the moment rather than written down—German uses the **Past Participle** (*Partizip II*).

Using the past participle (the form usually starting with *ge-*) sounds like an absolute order with zero room for debate. It gives the feeling that the action is so urgent, it should already be done.

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Impersonal commands (Infinitive / Partizip II)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the door area	der Türbereich
to keep clear	freihalten
Please keep the door area clear!	Bitte den Türbereich freihalten!
the platform edge	die Bahnsteigkante
to stand back	zurückbleiben
Please stand back behind the platform edge!	Bitte hinter der Bahnsteigkante zurückbleiben!
the warning signal	das Warnsignal
Mind the warning signal and stand back!	Das Warnsignal beachten und zurückbleiben!
to lean	lehnen
Please do not lean against the door!	Bitte nicht gegen die Tür lehnen!
the gap	der Spalt
Mind the gap between the train and the platform!	Den Spalt zwischen Zug und Bahnsteig beachten!
the emergency brake	die Notbremse
Only pull the emergency brake in an emergency!	Die Notbremse nur im Notfall ziehen!
to have ready	bereithalten
Have the ticket ready for the inspection!	Die Fahrkarte für die Kontrolle bereithalten!
Please just have the ticket ready!	Bitte lediglich die Fahrkarte bereithalten!
Please stand back because the train is departing!	Bitte zurückbleiben, weil der Zug abfährt!
Please have the ticket ready, that is important to us!	Bitte die Fahrkarte bereithalten, das ist uns wichtig!
Watch out, the train is departing!	Aufgepasst, der Zug fährt ab!
Do not lean against the door!	Nicht gegen die Tür gelehnt!
Show the ticket immediately!	Sofort die Fahrkarte gezeigt!
Watch out and do not stumble!	Aufgepasst und nicht gestolpert!
No pushing when getting in!	Nicht gedrängelt beim Einsteigen!
Keep the platform edge and the door area clear!	Die Bahnsteigkante und den Türbereich freihalten!
to misuse	missbrauchen
Please do not misuse the emergency brake!	Die Notbremse bitte nicht missbrauchen!
Watch out for the gap!	Auf den Spalt aufgepasst!
Never misuse the warning signal!	Das Warnsignal nie missbrauchen!