L'Impératif

The impératif is the mood you use to give an order, make a request, suggest something, or warn. Viens ! (Come!). Ne touche pas ! (Don’t touch!). Allons-y ! (Let’s go!).

It has only three forms — tu, nous, vous — and they’re almost identical to the present-tense indicative. The conjugation is the easiest in French. What trips up learners is everything around the verb: where pronouns sit, how negation works, when imperative is appropriate at all.

How to form it

For most verbs, drop the subject pronoun from the present tense and you have the imperative.

-er verbs (parler — to speak)

Note: the tu-form drops the -s that the present tense has. Tu parles (present) → parle (imperative).

-ir verbs (finir — to finish)

-re verbs (vendre — to sell)

Four irregular imperatives

Veuillez is the polite-formal “please” used in administrative writing: Veuillez patienter (Please wait). The other irregular imperatives appear constantly in real French.

What it sounds like

The three persons map to three social uses:

• tu form: informal, intimate, addressed to one person you’re close to (or one child). Viens ! — Come!
• nous form: collective, “let’s…”. Often used in writing or in formal speech. Allons au cinéma. — Let’s go to the cinema.
• vous form: formal singular, plural, or both. Asseyez-vous, s’il vous plaît. — Please sit down.

In casual French, the nous-imperative is usually replaced by on va… (we’re going to), so Allons au cinéma often becomes On va au cinéma. Both work.

Pronoun placement: the rule that trips everyone up

When the imperative is affirmative (positive), pronouns go after the verb, attached with a hyphen:

Donne-moi le livre. — Give me the book. Parlez-lui. — Speak to him/her. Allons-y ! — Let’s go (there)!

Two changes happen here:

1. The pronouns me and te become moi and toi after the verb. Donne-moi, not donne-me.
2. Multiple pronouns connect with hyphens in the standard order: Donne-le-moi. (Give it to me.)

When the imperative is negative, pronouns return to their normal pre-verb position, and moi/toi go back to me/te:

Ne me donne pas le livre. — Don’t give me the book. Ne lui parlez pas. — Don’t speak to him. N’y allons pas. — Let’s not go (there).

This is the single most common trip-up. Native French speakers make sound choices effortlessly; learners have to think about it. Practice both forms together: Donne-le-moi / Ne me le donne pas.

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive imperatives keep the reflexive pronoun, but it moves to the end (in the affirmative) or stays before (in the negative).

Lève-toi ! — Get up! Asseyons-nous. — Let’s sit down. Asseyez-vous. — Sit down (formal). Ne te lève pas. — Don’t get up.

Negation

Always wrap ne and pas (or rien, jamais, plus, etc.) around the verb-and-pronoun unit:

Ne le fais pas. — Don’t do it. N’oubliez rien. — Don’t forget anything. Ne me parle plus. — Don’t speak to me anymore.

Polite alternatives

The imperative is direct. French often softens commands with the conditional or with si vous voulez bien:

Pourriez-vous m’aider ? — Could you help me? (very polite, a request rather than an order) Veuillez patienter. — Please wait. (formal-administrative) Si tu veux bien, ferme la porte. — If you don’t mind, close the door.

In service interactions and with strangers, native speakers often avoid the imperative entirely. Tu peux me passer le sel ? (Can you pass the salt?) lands more politely than Passe-moi le sel. The conditional is the polite tool of choice.

Imperatives without imperative form

A few common functional imperatives use other tenses:

• Il faut + infinitive: Il faut partir. (We must leave.)
• Il faut que + subjunctive: Il faut que tu viennes. (You must come.)
• Future tense as command: Tu feras attention ! (You’ll be careful!) — used by parents.
• Infinitive in signs and instructions: Ne pas fumer. (No smoking.) Ouvrir avec précaution. (Open carefully.)

These are not technically imperative but do the same job.

How writers use it

The imperative shows up wherever characters speak directly to each other. Dialogue chapters in any French novel are full of imperatives.

In Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince, the fox’s apprivoise-moi (tame me) is one of the most quoted imperatives in twentieth-century French. The whole chapter rests on this single command, repeated and elaborated.

In Voltaire’s Candide, imperatives are mostly in dialogue between characters issuing urgent orders to each other. The famous closing line, il faut cultiver notre jardin, uses the il faut + infinitive construction rather than a true imperative — but its effect is exactly that of a collective command.

In Dumas, imperatives are battle commands. En garde! À l’attaque! Suivez-moi! The Musketeers swing through Paris on a stream of imperatives. The closing motto Un pour tous, tous pour un is grammatically declarative but functions as an oath, the moral equivalent of an imperative held aloft.

What you don’t need to do

You don’t need to use tu with everyone. The tu-imperative is for friends, family, children, and intimates. For anyone you don’t know well, use vous. Choosing the wrong register is a real social mistake in French.

You don’t need to memorise the four irregular imperatives on day one. Sois sage (be good) and aie patience (have patience) are the most common. The rest you’ll meet as you go.

You don’t need to use imperatives for ordinary politeness. Reach for pourrais-tu / pourriez-vous + infinitive when you’re asking strangers or being formal. The imperative is for direct relationships and emergencies.

Common confusions

• Tu parles (present) becomes parle (imperative). The -s drops in the tu-form for -er verbs (and a few others). Tu parles le français / Parle français !
• Pronouns flip from before to after. Tu me dis becomes Dis-moi. Tu lui parles becomes Parle-lui. The hyphen is mandatory in writing.
• Negation puts pronouns back before the verb. Donne-moi le livre / Ne me donne pas le livre. The moi/toi go back to me/te.
• Allons! without an object means “let’s go” or “come on.” It’s an interjection in conversation. Allons! on its own can express impatience (Oh come on!) or encouragement (Let’s do it!).

Where you’ll meet it in the library

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

• Le Petit Prince (A1) — the fox chapter (chapter 21) is built around imperatives. Almost every page in dialogue contains one.
• Les Trois Mousquetaires (B1) — Dumas’s adventure prose is propelled by imperatives in dialogue. En garde! Tirez! Suivez-moi! are the most common.
• Candide (B1) — Voltaire’s characters issue urgent orders to each other constantly. Partons! Fuyons! Cachez-vous!
• La Belle France (A1) — Storica original at A1 level; uses imperatives in tour-guide direct address: Regardez la cathédrale, imaginez les rois.