Imperative mood

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Last Updated: Sunday, 10 March 2024 17:00

Published: Sunday, 10 March 2024 17:00

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Imperative Mood of Verbs used to give commands: We use verbs to command (mandatos in spanish means commands which is like "to mandate something") someone to do something. These are called Imperative mood of the verb. ex: open the letter. Here "you" is implied, as we always give command to someone else "you open the letter". So, we use 3rd person form of the verb in this context (3rd person is used since we use usted form of you to give respect to the person). Depending on whether it's affirmative cmd (you do this) vs negative cmd (you do NOT do this), we change the verb ending in a different way for negative cmd.

NOTE: However, I've seen a lot of conflicting info on how the 3rd form singular form is changed even for affirmative cmds. Not sure which one is correct. Spanish translators give both kind of translations.

Video by Spanish Tuor (lesson 54) => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2UnO5khpi4

RULES:

• For Affirmative commands (i.e Do this), there are 2 types => flipped form and unflipped form:
  • tú form (informal): For giving cmds to children, other people who are below you, we use "tú" form. You would expect to use 2nd person singular/plural, but instead we use the "3rd person singular/plural form". When it's first peron plural (ex: Let's eat). This is the only case where we don't flip the -ar and -er/-ir verb. In all the other case below, transformations are flipped. Think of it this way => When we give affirmative cmd, we want to be polite, so use 3rd person usted form
  • usted form (formal): For giving cmds to your friend, seniors, etc, we use the more respectable "usted form". We use the "3rd person singular/plural form" which is same as above. So, to distinguish b/w above case and this case, we flip the -ar and -er verbs. -ar verbs pretend as if they are -er/-ir verb, while -er/-ir verb pretend to be -ar verb. So, the 3rd person form for hablar will be hable (even though it should be habla, but we treat hablar as -er verb for tranformation purpose). 
  • We (1st person plural): This is for cases when we order ourselves, ex: Let's eat. We are strictly commanding, but it's similar to a cmd. Here, we flip -ar and -er verb for transformation purpose.
• For Negative commands (i.e. Do NOT do this). There is only 1 type => flipped form
  • For all persons, we use only one form => the flipped form for all table entries (we flip -ar and -er verbs). So, the 2nd person form for hablar will be hables (even though it should be hablas, but we treat hablar as -er verb for tranformation purpose). Similarly for 3rd person (usted/ustedes) and 1st person plural (we), we flip -ar and -er verb.
• Irregular verbs: There are 8 irregular verbs which have don't follow the rule above. These are "ven di sal haz ten ve pon se", which you can remember by thinking, "Vin DieSel Has Ten WeaPonS, eh?"  => Ven DiSal Haz Ten VePonS eh.

Table form for Affirmative/Negative cmds: Remember: All verbs are flipped b/w ar and er/ir except 2nd person Affirmative. Basically it's all subjunctive form of verb, except for 2nd person Affirmative, which is indicative form. It'll be easier once you learn subjunctive forms of verbs.

Ex:

• open the letter => abre la carta (here 3rd person of abrir is used. It's said informally to someone youger to ypu, or your friend. You is left out as is common in spanish)
• buy the car => compra el carro (again, this is for informal order)
• Eat => Come (informal tú form for children), Coma (formal usted form for seniors). Coman (formal, but to a group of people). "Let's eat" => hablemos (instead of hablamos)
• Close the door => cierra la puerta (cerrar is stem changing verb since it has "e", which changes to ie => cierr as modified stem => 3rd person changes to cierra)
• Speak => habla (for informal, 3rd person), hable (for formal, 3rd person flipped).When saying this to group of people, we use hablan (informal) or hablen (formal)
  
  • Don't speak => No hables (Since it's negative cmd, we use 2nd person singular (flipped), which should be hablas, but it's treated as er verb, so hables)
• Write => Escribe (for informal, 3rd person), escriba (for formal, 3rd person flipped). Don't write => No escribas (instead of escribes, we treat it as ar verb). Let's write => escribamos (instead of escribemos)
• Don't learn German => No aprendas aléman (instead of aprendes, we treat it as ar verb)