Severn Spanish

Nosotros/nosotras commands III

 

Introduction/Review

You already know about tú commands, usted commands, and ustedes commands. There is one final type (aside from vosotros, which is not covered here): the nosotros commands. They are equivalent to saying, “Let’s ________” in English. There are two different ways to do this in Spanish.

 

Method I: Phrasal Future

You should already be quite familiar with this — at least the formation of it. This is just a new application of the phrasal future (ir + a + infinitive).

Examples:

Vamos a ir al restaurante. (Let’s go to the restaurant.)

Vamos a estudiar juntos. (Let’s study together.)

Son las seis. Vamos a preparar la cena. (It’s six o’clock. Let’s make dinner.)

 

Method II: Subjunctive

You should also be familiar with the formation of this one. Like with usted and ustedes commands, you can recycle the present subjunctive into a nosotros command. Take a look:

Examples:

Caminemos al parque para jugar fútbol. (Let’s walk to the park to play soccer.)

Escribamos nuestros ensayos. (Let’s write our essays.)

¡Bailemos! (Let’s dance!)

 

Some important notes about this one:

The affirmative command for ir is vamos, not vayamos. The negative, however, is no vayamos. Also note that the affirmative command for ir(se), "to leave," is vámonos, a contraction of vamos and nos. (This is what you hear on Dora the Explorer, by the way.) More on this below.

 

Object pronouns, direct and indirect, are stuck onto the end of the command when it is affirmative, but placed before the verb when the command is negative, just like with tú, usted, and ustedes commands.

Démosle el regalo a mamá. (Let’s give Mom the gift.)

No lo llamemos al director hasta mañana. (Let’s not call the director until tomorrow.)

 

When you have a reflexive verb that you are using as an affirmative command, attach the reflexive pronoun to the end of the verb, but make sure to drop the final -s of the verb itself and add an accent to keep the original pronunciation of the verb. To figure out where the accent should fall, say the verb conjugation alone and listen for where the stress is.

cepillarse los dientes — Cepillémonos los dientes. (Let’s brush our teeth.)

irse — ¡Vámonos! (Let’s go!)