The imperative is the mood we use to give commands, make requests, offer advice, and give instructions. Every time you tell someone to sit down, turn left, or not worry, you are using it. In Spanish, the imperative has a few more forms than in English, and the affirmative and negative versions do not always look alike, so it pays to learn the system rather than memorize verbs one by one.
The good news is that most of the forms come straight from the Spanish subjunctive, which means that if you already know your subjunctive endings, you are most of the way there.
Which persons can give commands?
You can form the imperative for five grammatical persons: tú, usted, nosotros, vosotros, and ustedes. You cannot command yo (you do not order yourself around) or él/ella (you cannot command someone who is not present).
Two of these persons, tú and vosotros, have a different conjugation for the affirmative and the negative. The other three, usted, nosotros, and ustedes, use the same form whether the command is positive or negative. That single fact explains most of the apparent complexity.
Affirmative tú: the everyday command
For most verbs, the affirmative tú command looks exactly like the third-person singular of the present indicative (él canta, él come, él vive).
Canta conmigo. (Sing with me.)
Come más despacio. (Eat more slowly.)
Abre la ventana, por favor. (Open the window, please.)
Because this is the form you will use most in casual conversation, it is worth getting comfortable with first.
Irregular affirmative tú commands
A small group of very common verbs is irregular in the affirmative tú form. There are eight worth memorizing, and they show up constantly:
decir → di
hacer → haz
ir → ve
poner → pon
salir → sal
ser → sé
tener → ten
venir → ven
Ven aquí y pon la mesa. (Come here and set the table.)
Di siempre la verdad. (Always tell the truth.)
Sal de casa temprano si no quieres llegar tarde. (Leave the house early if you don't want to be late.)
Haz la tarea antes de cenar. (Do the homework before dinner.)
A handy way to remember these is that many of them are short, one-syllable forms.
Negative tú: switch to the subjunctive
Here is the twist that trips up learners. The negative tú command does not use the affirmative form with no in front of it. Instead, it uses the second-person singular of the present subjunctive.
canta becomes no cantes
come becomes no comas
abre becomes no abras
No hables con la boca llena. (Don't talk with your mouth full.)
No comas tan rápido. (Don't eat so fast.)
The irregular verbs from the list above become regular again in the negative, because they simply follow the subjunctive: no digas, no hagas, no vayas, no pongas, no salgas, no seas, no tengas, no vengas.
No seas tan duro contigo mismo. (Don't be so hard on yourself.)
No pongas la música tan alta. (Don't play the music so loud.)
Usted and ustedes: the formal commands
The usted and ustedes commands use the subjunctive in both the affirmative and the negative, so there is nothing extra to learn once you know your subjunctive forms. Take the yo form of the present, drop the -o, and add the "opposite" vowel: -e endings for -ar verbs, -a endings for -er and -ir verbs.
For cantar:
usted: cante / no cante
ustedes: canten / no canten
For comer:
usted: coma / no coma
ustedes: coman / no coman
Firme aquí y conserve su recibo. (Sign here and keep your receipt.)
Tomen asiento, por favor. (Please take a seat.)
In Latin America, ustedes is the only plural "you," so these forms cover both formal and informal groups. In Spain, ustedes stays formal and vosotros handles informal groups.
Nosotros: the "let's" command
The nosotros imperative translates the English let's. It also uses the subjunctive.
Cantemos una canción. (Let's sing a song.)
No comamos aquí, la comida es cara. (Let's not eat here, the food is expensive.)
There is one common shortcut: for ir, Spanish speakers use vamos (rather than the subjunctive vayamos) to say let's go. The negative, however, returns to the subjunctive: no vayamos.
Vosotros: the informal plural in Spain
If you are learning the Spanish of Spain, you will need the vosotros imperative. The affirmative is easy: take the infinitive and replace the final -r with a -d.
cantar → cantad
comer → comed
vivir → vivid
The negative, predictably, uses the subjunctive: no cantéis, no comáis, no viváis. Learners outside Spain can treat these forms as recognition-only, but it helps to know why cantad and no cantéis look so different from each other.
Where do the pronouns go?
The imperative is where object and reflexive pronouns really show off, and the rule is refreshingly consistent. If you want a full refresher on the pronouns themselves, see our guide to direct and indirect object pronouns.
With affirmative commands, the pronouns attach to the end of the verb, forming a single word:
Invita a Lucía. → Invítala. (Invite her.)
Manda el correo a Daniel. → Mándale el correo. → Mándaselo. (Send it to him.)
With negative commands, the pronouns go back to their normal spot, before the verb:
No invites a Lucía. → No la invites. (Don't invite her.)
No mandes el correo a Daniel. → No se lo mandes. (Don't send it to him.)
Notice the written accents on invítala, mándale, and mándaselo. When you attach one or more pronouns to an affirmative command, the stress stays on its original syllable, and Spanish adds an accent mark to keep it there.
How the imperative is really used
Grammar aside, the imperative is not only for barking orders. Here are the most common situations where it shows up.
Direct commands and requests
Pásame la sal. (Pass me the salt.)
No te preocupes. (Don't worry.)
Adding por favor softens almost any command and is expected in polite contexts.
Softening with a modal question
Spanish speakers very often avoid the bare imperative altogether and phrase a request as a question, which sounds gentler:
¿Puedes bajar el volumen? (Can you turn down the volume?)
¿Podría ayudarme con esto, por favor? (Could you help me with this, please?)
Both are technically questions, but their function is a command. This is worth imitating, because a direct imperative can come across as brusque with people you do not know well.
Advice and encouragement
Habla con ella, dile lo que sientes, y no tengas miedo de su respuesta. (Talk to her, tell her how you feel, and don't be afraid of her answer.)
Instructions, directions, and recipes
The imperative is the natural mood for step-by-step instructions. Giving directions is a classic example:
Sigue recto dos cuadras, gira a la izquierda en el semáforo, y el museo está a tu derecha. (Go straight for two blocks, turn left at the traffic light, and the museum is on your right.)
Recipes work the same way: pela las papas, pica la cebolla, y mezcla todo en un tazón (peel the potatoes, chop the onion, and mix everything in a bowl). Interestingly, in very casual speech, Spanish speakers sometimes give directions using the plain present tense instead (sigues recto, giras a la derecha), which is informal but very common.
Advertising
Open any Spanish-language ad and you will find a stream of formal commands aimed at the customer:
Pruebe el nuevo Café Aurora. Empiece el día con energía y descubra el auténtico sabor de Colombia en cada taza. (Try the new Café Aurora. Start your day with energy and discover the authentic taste of Colombia in every cup.)
A quick self-check
Try filling in the tú command for each verb, both affirmative and negative:
estudiar (to study)
decir (to say), with the pronouns me lo
hacer (to do)
ir (to go)
Answers: estudia / no estudies; dímelo / no me lo digas; haz / no hagas; ve / no vayas. If you got the negative forms by reaching for the subjunctive, you have understood the core of the system.
Wrapping up
The Spanish imperative looks intimidating because there are several persons and because the affirmative and negative forms diverge for tú and vosotros. But almost everything reduces to two ideas: the affirmative tú command mirrors the third-person singular of the present indicative (with eight irregular exceptions to memorize), and nearly everything else borrows from the subjunctive. Add the pronoun-placement rule, attach for affirmative, detach for negative, and you can command, request, advise, and instruct with confidence.
For the underlying forms, the Real Academia Española's Diccionario de la lengua española is an authoritative reference. From here, a natural next step is to review the subjunctive, since it powers most of the commands you just learned.