Whether you know it or not, you already use the imperative mood. It’s how you suggest or command certain actions from family, coworkers, friends, and strangers. The imperative can be used in the affirmative or the negative form.
See how and when to use the imperative mood in Spanish not only to express yourself but also to understand warnings and requests from other people. As an added bonus, learning how the imperative works in Spanish helps you to learn the subjunctive mood because of strong grammatical similarities in the conjugated forms of the verbs.
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What is the imperative mood in Spanish?
The imperative mood in Spanish is used for asking, requesting, ordering, or demanding something from others. While there are other structures for giving requests and advice, the imperative is a more direct way to give a command, order, or direction.
The two main categories of the imperative mood are:
- Affirmative (do this) :
- ¡Ten cuidado! El café está muy caliente. = Be careful! The coffee is very hot.
- Negative (don’t do this).
- No hagas ruido. El bebé duerme. = Don’t make noise. The baby is sleeping.
There are different forms depending who you are talking to.
| Spanish Subject | Context | Affirmative: Eat! | Negative: Don’t Eat! |
| tú you | informal singular | ¡Come! | ¡No comas! |
| usted you | formal singular | ¡Coma! | ¡No coma! |
| nosotros we | universal plural | ¡Comamos! | ¡No comamos |
| vosotros you all | informal (Spain) plural | ¡Comed! | ¡No comáis! |
| ustedes you all | universal (Latin America) plural formal (Spain) plural | ¡Coman! | ¡No coman! |
The conjugations will always depend on who you’re speaking to.
- ¡No toques el arte! = Don’t touch the art! (singular, informal: tú)
- No pisen el pasto. = Do not walk on the grass. (plural, formal or informal: ustedes)
- Tome su medicamento cada seis horas. = Take your medication every six hours. (singular, formal: usted)
- Hablemos con él ahora. = Let’s talk to him now. (plural first person: nosotros)
How the imperative is used
The imperative functions on several levels and a lot of it depends on tone and context. You’ll often use it for a basic request, like at the dinner table with your family, or in less formal work settings.
- Pásame la sal. = Pass me the salt.
You can use the imperative to warn someone, to make a demand, or to give instructions in an emergency.
- ¡Llama a la ambulancia! = Call the ambulance!
But you can also make gentler suggestions too. You’ll often encounter imperative forms if you’re following recipes or GPS instructions.
- Bate la mezcla por dos minutos antes de hornear. = Beat the mixture for two minutes before baking.
- Gira a la derecha. = Turn right.
Finally, you can use the imperative when you want to emphasize the seriousness of your request. Instead of something softer, like ¿podrías dejar de…? (could you stop) or Me gustaría que.. (I would like it if…) you could just get directly to the point this way.
- Deje de molestarme. = Stop bothering me.
Note that sometimes with the imperative, the difference between a polite request and a harsh demand depends on the person’s tone of voice or accompanying words such as por favor (please).
Culturally it’s not rude or uncommon for people to use the command form in everyday situations like ordering coffee or food in a restaurant or giving directions to get around a city, but you might want to exercise more caution and use different structures depending on cultural communication styles and the situation.
Conjugating the imperative Spanish mood
Conjugations for the imperative are easiest to learn when you follow patterns. The charts below won’t include forms for yo, él/ella, or ellos/ellas, because you’ll always be talking directly to someone else. Like many Spanish verb tenses, the subject pronoun is often omitted because the ending does the work for you.
There are imperative forms for nosotros, but in casual speech, you can always just use vamos a + the infinitive to make suggestions to a group that you’re a part of, like vamos al parque (let’s go to the park).
Regular verbs in the affirmative
To form the affirmative commands for many verbs, follow this pattern.
- Remove the -AR, -ER, or -IR from the infinitive form of the verb.
- Add the endings from the table below.
Regular verb endings in the affirmative imperative
| Spanish Subject | -AR | -ER | -IR |
| tú you (informal) | -a | -e | -e |
| usted you (formal) | -e | -a | -a |
| nosotros we | -emos | -amos | -amos |
| vosotros you all (informal, Spain) | -ad | -ed | -id |
| ustedes you all | -en | -an | -an |
Affirmative tú commands
Tú commands are usually formed with the same form as the él/ella/usted form of the present tense, including any stem-changes. If you want to practice these kinds of commands, go sit in a public park and listen to an adult direct their child or pet.
- Espera, por favor. = Wait, please.
- Dobla a la izquierda. = Turn left.
- Juega aquí. = Play here.
There are eight irregular affirmative tú commands.
- Ven al café. = Come to the café.
- Pon el tazón sobre la mesa. = Put the bowl on the table.
| Irregular Verb | Irregular Tú Command | Meaning |
| decir | di | say/tell |
| hacer | haz | do/make |
| ir | ve | go |
| poner | pon | put |
| salir | sal | leave/go out |
| ser | sé | be |
| tener | ten | have |
| venir | ven | come |
Affirmative usted/ustedes/nosotros commands
Usted, ustedes, nosotros commands are formed with the present subjunctive of the verb. This means that the stem is based on the yo form of the present tense, including stem changes and irregular yo forms.
People who work in public places like rental shops, tourist sites, and hotels may need to give lots of commands, but they would opt for the more formal versions.
- Tome ese sendero para llegar al lago. = Take this path to get to the lake.
- Caminen. = Walk.
- Traigan sus trajes de baño y sus toallas. = Bring your bathing suits and your towels.
- Apaguen sus celulares, por favor. = Turn off your cell phones, please.
- Empecemos. = Let’s begin.
To form these commands, follow the pattern for present subjunctive.
- Find the stem with the present tense indicative yo form of the verb.
- Change the “o” ending to the following endings:
| Spanish Subject Pronoun | -AR Verb Endings | -ER and -IR Verb Endings |
| usted you (formal) | -e | -a |
| nosotros we | -emos | -amos |
| ustedes you all | -en | -an |
Affirmative vosotros commands
Vosotros commands are formed by replacing the “r” at the end of the infinitive with a “d.” They will not include stem changes.
Even if you aren’t planning to give commands to groups of friends in Spain (the only use for vosotros commands) imagine watching a show on Netflix about a classroom in Spain, then you’re certain to recognize vosotros commands as it’s the most natural way for a teacher to address a group of students.
- Sacad los libros y los lápices. = Take out your books and pencils.
- Leed las instrucciones. = Read the instructions.
- Escribid vuestro nombre y apellidos. = Write your first and last names.
Regular verbs in the negative
The negative forms of the imperative add the word no before the verb. All negative commands use the same verb form as the presente de subjuntivo. (That’s why you’ll see a change in spelling between the affirmative and negative forms for tú and vosotros commands).
- No acampes aquí. = Don’t camp here.
- No hagan ruido. Hablo por teléfono. = Don’t make noise. I’m talking on the phone.
- No pierda tu pasaporte. = Don’t lose your passport!
- No toques nada. = Don’t touch anything!
It’s easy to conjugate the present subjunctive because forming this tense involves a predictable pattern.
- Start with the word no.
- Find the stem with the present tense indicative yo form of the verb. (including stem changes and irregular forms.)
- Change the “o” ending to the following endings:
| Spanish Subject Pronoun | -AR Verb Endings | -ER and -IR Verb Endings |
| tú you (informal) | -es | -as |
| usted you (formal) | -e | -a |
| nosotros we | -emos | -amos |
| vosotros you all (informal, Spain) | -éis | -áis |
| ustedes you all | -en | -an |
Irregular verbs in the imperative
It’s worth mentioning a few additional examples of irregular commands, since they are common.
- No seas impaciente. = Don’t be impatient.
- No esté nervioso. = Don’t be nervous.
- Vayan con cuidado. = Go carefully.
You’ll hear these types of commands often enough to notice their slight irregularities, but most of the patterns are still really recognizable.
| Spanish Subject Pronoun | serto be | estarto be | irto go |
| tú you (informal) | ¡sé!/¡no seas! | ¡está!/¡no estés! | ¡ve!/¡no vayas! |
| usted you (formal) | ¡sea!/¡no sea! | ¡esté!/¡no esté! | ¡vaya!/¡no vaya! |
| nosotros we | ¡seamos!/¡no seamos! | ¡estemos!/¡no estemos! | ¡vayamos! or ¡vamos!/¡no vayamos! |
| vosotros you all (informal, Spain) | ¡sed!/¡no seáis! | ¡estad!/¡no estéis! | ¡id!/¡no vayáis! |
| ustedes you all | ¡sean!/¡no sean! | ¡estén!/¡no estéis! | ¡vayan!/¡no vayan! |
The imperative with direct object and indirect object pronouns
Sometimes you want to replace a noun with a pronoun to avoid repetition. Depending on the way the sentence is structured, you might use direct or indirect object pronouns. In the example below, me (me) is the indirect object, because you’re giving the coffee to me (indirect).
- Dame un café. = Give me a coffee.
You can also replace the word café (the direct object) with a pronoun.
- Dámelo. = Give it to me.
When Spanish direct and indirect object pronouns are used with the imperative, they go at the end of the verb. Indirect objects go in front of direct objects.
- Ayúdame, por favor. = Help me, please.
- ¡Hoy compré un perro! = I bought a dog today!
- ¡Muéstramelo! = Show it to me!
When you use the third person direct and indirect object pronouns with the imperative, the le or les changes to se. The se represents the person receiving the indirect object.
- Mándale el paquete. = Send the package to him/her.
- Mándaselo. = Send it to him/her.
Remember that using the imperative in the negative form with direct object pronouns means you put the pronoun before the verb:
- No lo tomes. = Don’t drink it.
If the negative form uses a direct and indirect object pronoun, it looks like this:
- No se lo mandes. = Don’t send it to him/her.
Reflexive pronouns with the imperative mood in Spanish
Used in conjunction with verbs, reflexive pronouns in Spanish indicate an action that the subject of the sentence generally performs on itself.
- Tú te bañas cada día. = You bathe every day.
When using the affirmative imperative, the reflexive pronoun goes at the end of the verb. In the negative it goes in front of the conjugated verb.
- Lávate las manos. = Wash your hands.
- Siéntate. = Sit down.
- No te sientes allá. = Don’t sit there.
Using the infinitive for instructions and warnings
While it’s most common to use the imperative for instructions and warning in dialogues, it’s possible to see signs written with the infinitive (the full, unconjugated form of the verb) that have the sense of the imperative.
There are signs for safety and expected behavior on public transport, city streets, and public buildings.
- No tocar el video. = Do not touch the glass.
- Subir las escaleras con cuidado. = Go up the stairs carefully.
- Zona de hospital. No tocar el claxon. = Hospital zone. Do not honk your horn.
Key takeaways about the imperative mood
The imperative is one of three Spanish moods (including the subjunctive and indicative mood) and includes both affirmative and negative constructions.
- To address a friend or family member, use the él/ella form of the present tense, except for the eight irregular commands.
- For most other commands, stick to the present subjunctive forms.
- The imperative mood is a very direct way to speak to someone. While it’s common for giving directions and making requests in restaurants, use it with care as it could come across a bit too abrupt.
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