The Imperative Mood
We use the imperative mood to give direct commands, offer advice, or make strong requests. In this lesson, we will focus on commands given directly to one person (the informal singular "you") and multiple people (the informal plural "you").
The Singular Imperative
The singular imperative is used when speaking to one person (ty). You do not use the pronoun "ty" in the sentence; the verb form itself acts as the command. For many common verbs, the imperative simply ends in -j.
The Plural Imperative
Commanding a group of people (wy) is incredibly simple: just take the singular imperative form and attach the ending -cie to it.
Consonant Endings and Stem Changes
Not all imperative verbs end in -j. Many drop their vowel endings entirely to form the command, ending in a consonant instead. In some cases, this causes slight spelling changes in the root of the word.
Negative Commands
To tell someone not to do something, just place the word nie directly before the imperative verb.
Perfective vs. Imperfective Commands
Just like verbs in the past and future tenses, imperative commands come in perfective and imperfective pairs.
Use a perfective imperative when you are asking someone to complete a specific, one-time action. Use an imperfective imperative for general rules, ongoing habits, or continuous actions.
Let's compare the perfective command weź (take this specific thing once) with the imperfective command bierz (take as a general habit):
