Severn Spanish

Tú commands I

 

Introduction

So far, you have worked only in the indicative mood in Spanish. The indicative mood is used to express statements of fact -- "I ride my bike," or "She is late for the meeting." The imperative mood, on the other hand, is used to make requests, which is a fancy way of saying ordering people around (or giving commands).

There are two general types of commands: affirmative commands (telling someone to do something) and negative commands (telling someone not to do something). This section is dedicated to affirmative commands, which are a little easier to understand at the beginning. In Spanish, commands are also divided between tú, usted, ustedes, and nosotros/nosotras. There are also vosotros commands, which you don't need to worry about at all but should be aware of.

Another brief note before we begin: in English and Spanish alike, the subject of a command (most often some form of "you") is almost always implied; that is, the subject is not stated in the sentence. For example, in the English sentence, "Clean your room," the subject is "you," but nowhere in the sentence can "you" be found. You are hopefully familiar with the idea of the implied subject in Spanish, and this concept is even more common with commands.

 

Formation -- Regulars

Forming commands with regular verbs is super easy, because you actually already know what they look like: affirmative tú commands are the present tense él/ella/usted form.

Examples:

Lava los platos. (Wash the plates.)

Pasa la aspiradora por el cuarto. (Vacuum the room.)

Escribe tu ensayo. (Write your essay.)

 

Formation -- Irregulars

Some verbs have irregular tú commands. As usual, you'll have to memorize them.

hacer -- haz

Haz la cama. (Make the bed.)

poner -- pon

Pon la mesa. (Set the table.)

tener -- ten

Ten prisa. Es hora de salir. (Hurry. It is time to leave.)

 

Practice