El Imperativo

The imperativo is the mood you use to give an order, make a request, suggest something, or warn. ¡Ven! (Come!). ¡No toques! (Don’t touch!). ¡Vamos! (Let’s go!).

Spanish has more imperative forms than French or Italian: five or six depending on dialect (tú, vos in Argentina/Uruguay, usted, nosotros, vosotros in Spain, ustedes). The conjugation borrows partly from the indicative and partly from the subjunctive. What unifies them is the pronoun-placement rule.

How to form it

Tú affirmative — drop the -s

The tú affirmative imperative is the third-person singular present indicative (no -s).

The stem changes carry over: pensar → piensa, dormir → duerme.

Tú negative — use the subjunctive

The negative tú imperative uses present subjunctive.

So come! but no comas! — different bases. This is one of the most surprising features of Spanish for English speakers.

Usted (formal singular) and ustedes (plural)

Both affirmative and negative use the subjunctive form.

Nosotros (let’s…) — subjunctive

Vamos is the exception. The standard let’s go is vamos, not vayamos. Vayamos is correct grammatically but sounds literary.

Vosotros (Spain plural) — special endings

The affirmative vosotros imperative uses infinitive minus the -r + -d: *hablad, comed, vivid. The negative uses subjunctive: no habléis, no comáis, no viváis.

In Latin America, vosotros is replaced by ustedes — there’s no separate form.

Irregular tú imperatives

A small group of irregular tú affirmative imperatives. Memorise these.

These short forms are part of everyday speech. Ven aquí (come here), dime (tell me), hazlo (do it), sal de ahí (get out of there).

Pronoun placement — the rule everyone trips on

When the imperative is affirmative, pronouns attach to the end:

Dame el libro. — Give me the book. (da + me → dame) Cómelo. — Eat it. (come + lo → cómelo, with accent to preserve stress) Levántate. — Get up. (levanta + te → levántate)

Multiple pronouns combine and attach:

Dámelo. — Give it to me. (da + me + lo) Cuéntaselo. — Tell it to him. (cuenta + se + lo)

Note: the accent is added when needed to preserve original stress. Come is one syllable, no accent needed. But cómelo shifts stress backward, so the accent on có- preserves it.

When the imperative is negative, pronouns detach and sit before the verb:

No me des el libro. — Don’t give me the book. No te levantes. — Don’t get up. No se lo digas. — Don’t tell it to him.

This flip is the most common imperative error. No dame is wrong; it’s no me des.

The nosotros-affirmative + reflexive pronoun quirk

When nosotros affirmative imperative combines with the reflexive nos, the -s of the verb is dropped:

Levantémonos. — Let’s get up. (levantemos + nos, drop the s) Sentémonos. — Let’s sit down. Vámonos. — Let’s go. (vamos + nos)

This consonant cluster avoidance is unique to this combination.

Polite alternatives

Spanish, like its Romance cousins, often softens commands with the conditional or with por favor:

¿Podrías ayudarme? — Could you help me? (more polite than ayúdame) Por favor, cierra la puerta. — Please, close the door. ¿Te importaría…? — Would you mind…?

The conditional is the polite tool of choice for adult social interactions. The imperative is more direct.

Vos — the Argentine/Uruguayan/Central American imperative

In voseo countries (Argentina, Uruguay, parts of Central America, etc.), the tú form is replaced with vos, and the imperative has its own conjugation:

The stress shifts to the final syllable, no diphthong (pensá, not piensa).

For learners studying Spanish for Spain or for general Latin America, tú is the default. For Argentine or Uruguayan Spanish, vos is the everyday form.

What you don’t need to do

You don’t need to learn vosotros if you’re not studying for Spain. Latin American Spanish uses ustedes for both formal and plural informal.

You don’t need to memorise every irregular tú-form on day one. The eight most common (above) cover most usage.

You don’t need to handle accent marks perfectly. They’re prescribed in writing but rarely change meaning. Native speakers add them when needed for clarity.

Common confusions

• Negative tú-imperative is the subjunctive, not the indicative. Come (affirmative) → no comas (negative). Not no come.
• Pronoun placement flips with negation. Dámelo (affirmative, attached) → No me lo des (negative, detached). One of the most common A2 errors.
• Vamos, not vayamos, for “let’s go” affirmative. Vayamos is grammatically correct but sounds bookish. Native speakers say vamos.
• Vosotros affirmative uses -d, not subjunctive. Hablad, not habléis, in Spain affirmative. The negative goes back to subjunctive: no habléis.

Where you’ll meet it in the library

The imperative is everywhere in dialogue. Especially clean exposure in:

• Don Quijote (A2+) — Cervantes’s prose is dialogue-heavy and Don Quijote constantly issues commands. Sigue, escucha, mira, dime, vámonos. The brisk give-and-take of master-and-squire dialogue is built on imperatives.
• Any Spanish movie, telenovela, or play. Dramatic speech is the natural habitat of imperatives. Listen for the affirmative-vs-negative pronoun flip.