O Imperativo

The imperative is the mood of commands, requests, instructions, and direct address. In Portuguese it splits into two distinct systems:

1. Affirmative imperative for tu (informal singular) — has its own special forms, often the same as the present indicative without the final -s.
2. All other imperatives (negative tu, all você/vocês forms) — borrow the present subjunctive (presente do conjuntivo).

This means the imperative shares territory with the subjunctive. Mastering one helps the other.

Once you have the system, giving instructions in Portuguese becomes fluid: in a recipe, on a sign, in a parent’s voice, in a knight’s command.

The affirmative tu form (informal singular)

To form the affirmative tu imperative of a regular verb:

Take the present indicative tu form (e.g., falas) and drop the final -s.

Examples:

Fala mais alto! — Speak louder! Come a sopa. — Eat the soup. Parte agora. — Leave now.

Irregular tu imperatives

A few common verbs have irregular tu imperative forms. Memorise these:

Sê paciente. — Be patient. Vem cá! — Come here! Faz o que digo. — Do what I say.

All other imperatives — use the present subjunctive

For você, vocês, and all negative forms, Portuguese uses the present subjunctive (presente do conjuntivo). The forms are:

Regular verbs

Examples:

Não fales tão alto! — Don’t speak so loud! Coma a sopa, por favor. — Please eat the soup. (formal you) Partam agora! — Leave now! (plural you)

Irregular verbs (key ones)

Não vás embora! — Don’t go away! Tenha cuidado. — Be careful. (formal you) Não façam barulho. — Don’t make noise. (plural you)

Why this split?

Historically, tu in Portuguese had its own imperative form (inherited from Latin). When você developed in the 1600s from vossa mercê (your grace), it grammatically behaved like a third-person noun, so it took the third-person subjunctive form. Negative tu shifted to also use the subjunctive for symmetry. The result is the split system we have now.

In Brazil, você is now the standard pronoun, so the imperative there is almost entirely subjunctive-based. In Portugal, the tu affirmative form lives on as the dominant informal command.

Pronoun placement with the imperative

Affirmative imperative → enclisis (after, with hyphen)

Diz-me a verdade. — Tell me the truth. Levanta-te! — Stand up! Coma-os. — Eat them.

Negative imperative → proclisis (before)

Não me digas mentiras. — Don’t tell me lies. Não te levantes. — Don’t stand up. Não os comas. — Don’t eat them.

This follows the general Portuguese pronoun-position rule: negation triggers proclisis.

Vamos — let’s

To express “let’s”, Portuguese uses vamos + infinitive:

Vamos comer! — Let’s eat! Vamos para casa. — Let’s go home.

Or, more formally, the first-person plural subjunctive:

Comamos. — Let’s eat. (literary) Sejamos honestos. — Let’s be honest.

In speech, vamos + infinitive is by far the more common form.

Vós forms — archaic but visible

The vós (you-all, formal/archaic) imperative still appears in:

• Religious texts and prayers
• Older literature
• Don Quixote’s chivalric register

Modern speech replaces these with vocês forms.

Politeness — soften with por favor and conditional

The imperative on its own can sound abrupt. Soften with:

• Por favor — please
• Se faz favor (EP) — please
• Conditional or subjunctive form — Importava-se de…? (Would you mind…?)

Pode passar o sal, por favor? — Could you pass the salt, please? (much softer than Passe o sal!)

In service contexts, gostaria de or queria + infinitive sounds polite:

Gostaria de um café. — I would like a coffee. (instead of Dê-me um café.)

What you don’t need to do

You don’t need to memorise every irregular imperative at once. Sê, vai, vem, faz, diz, tem, vê are the essentials. Others come with reading.

You don’t need to use vós in modern Portuguese. Vocês covers plural informal/formal.

You don’t need separate forms for você and the third-person — they share. Fale você or fale ele both use fale.

Common confusions

• Affirmative tu has its own form; everything else uses the subjunctive. This is the central rule.
• Negation triggers subjunctive even for tu. Fala (affirmative) vs não fales (negative — subjunctive form).
• Pronoun position shifts with negation. Diz-me (affirmative, enclitic) vs não me digas (negative, proclitic).
• Você and vocês always use the subjunctive forms. Diga, digam, faça, façam, vá, vão.
• Irregular tu imperatives are short. Sê, vai, vem, faz, diz. Not seja, vá, venha, faça, diga — those are the você forms.

Where you’ll meet it in the library

The imperative is in every dialogue and instruction in Portuguese:

• Pinóquio (A1+) — Storica’s adaptation is rich in parental commands. Geppetto giving advice (sê bom, vai à escola), the Fairy commanding (diz a verdade, não mintas). Perfect first encounter.
• Alice no País das Maravilhas (A2+) — Carroll’s bottle says beba-me, the cake says coma-me, the Queen shouts commands. All imperative forms in one short story.
• Dom Quixote (A2+) — Cervantes’s hero uses imperatives in chivalric register, with archaic vós forms (olhai, vede, ouvi) alongside the modern tu forms (monta, segue-me).