Positive Imperative

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Imperative

The imperative has five forms: Tú, Usted, Vosotros/as, Ustedes and nosotros. 'Tú' and 'vosotros/as' are informal and come across as friendlier. ‘Nosotros’ is used for ‘let’s do something’.

AR verbs

The 'tú' form is the same as the 'él/ella' form of the present tense.
The 'vosotros' form is made by removing the 'r' from the infinitive and adding a 'd'.
The formal forms and nosotros come from the present subjunctive.
Examples:
- Habla - singular informal (tú).
- Hablad - plural informal (vosotros/as).
- Hable - singular formal (usted).
- Hablemos - plural formal (nosotros).
- Hablen - plural formal (ustedes).

ER verbs

The 'tú' form is the same as the 'él/ella' form of the present tense.
The 'vosotros' form is made by removing the 'r' from the infinitive and adding a 'd'.
The formal forms and nosotros come from the present subjunctive.
Examples:
- Aprende - singular informal (tú).
- Aprended - plural informal (vosotros/as).
- Aprenda - singular formal (usted).
- Aprendamos - plural formal (nosotros).
- Aprendan - plural formal (ustedes).

IR verbs

The 'tú' form is the same as the 'él/ella' form of the present tense.
The 'vosotros' form is made by removing the 'r' the infinitive and adding a 'd'.
The formal forms and nosotros come from the present subjunctive.
Examples:
- Vive - singular informal (tú).
- Vivad - plural informal (vosotros/as).
- Viva - singular formal (usted).
- Vivamos - plural formal (nosotros).
- Vivan - plural formal (ustedes).

Irregular IR verb example - Pedir

The 'tú' form is the same as the 'él/ella' form of the present tense.
The 'vosotros' form is made by removing the 'r' the infinitive and adding a 'd'.
The formal forms and nosotros come from the present subjunctive.
Pedir is an irregular verb. The él/ella form of the present tense is pide.
Examples:
- Pide - singular informal (tú).
- Pedid - plural informal (vosotros/as).
- Pida - singular formal (usted).
- Pidamos - plural formal (nosotros).
- Pidan - plural formal (ustedes).

Imperative

The imperative is used to give commands or orders.

Forms

The imperative has four forms:
- Tú, Usted, Vosotros/as, Ustedes.
The 'tú' and 'vosotros/as forms are used informally.
The informal terms come across as friendlier and often don't have exclamation marks.

Forming the imperative

The 'tú' form is the same as the 'él/ella' form of the present tense.
- E.g. ¡Aprende español!
  - Learn Spanish! (you singular).
The 'vosotros' form is formed by taking the infinitive, removing the 'r' and adding a 'd'.
- E.g. ¡Aprended español!
  - Learn Spanish! (you plural).

An example

The conjugation for 'hablar' (to speak) in the imperative is:
- Habla - singular informal (tú).
- Hablad - plural informal (vosotros/as).
- Hable - singular formal (usted).
- Hablen - plural formal (ustedes).

Let's

You use the 'nosotros/as' form of the imperative to say 'let or let's do something'.
It is exactly the same as the 'nosotros' form of the present subjunctive for er, ar and ir verbs.
- E.g. Compremos las entradas para el cine.
  - Let's buy tickets for the cinema.

Negative imperative

When negative, the imperative is formed the same way as the present subjunctive.
E.g. the conjugation for 'hablar' (to speak) in the negative imperative is:
- No hables - sigular informal.
- No habléis - plural informal.
- No hable - singular formal.
- No hablen - plural formal.