Spanish Imperative Mood: Learn How To Give Commands (With Examples)

The word imperative comes from the Latin word “imperare,” meaning ‘to command’ or ‘to order’. In Spanish, the imperative mood is part of the ‘Grammar.’

Grammar is boring!

I feel you.

Stay clam! ¡Quédate tranquilo!

Keep reading! ¡Sigue leyendo!

Look at these sentences! ¡Mira estas frases!

Give yourself a pat at the back! ¡Date una palmadita en la espalda!

You have already come across imperatives without even trying.

That is how much we use imperatives in our speech. You speak it without even thinking. 

In this article here about the Imperative mood in Spanish, you will learn how to form the imperatives, the imperative affirmative and negative commands in Spanish, and Spanish imperative conjugations, all in the presence of examples, and there is a mnemonic for you that will let you know the presence of Spanish imperative mood in a sentence.

What Is A Spanish Mood? (Are You In Mood To Know?)

A Spanish mood is a grammatical element that makes us learn more about our style of talking. It showcases the attitude of the speaker towards the sentence he is speaking.

You may have heard that the tone of the voice matters when we say a thing, so it also goes with the mood. The mood enhances and tells what a persona actually wishes to say or wants to tell.

In Spanish grammar, there are three moods: the imperative mood, the indicative mood, and the subjunctive mood.All three have different grammatical formations and conjugations.

What Is the Spanish Imperative Mood?

Imperatives are used to give commands, make requests, or encourage someone to do something. In Spanish, the imperative mood also tells someone to either do something or stop doing something, may request someone, or can also ask someone to continue doing something.

Next, you will find some common verbs to learn about Spanish imperatives. Imperatives can be affirmative and negative commands.

Key Features of Spanish Imperative Mood

All orders, commands, and instructions use the Spanish imperative mood. In all positive command, we use the tú verb form.

Positive commands also use the Vostoros verb form.

We normally use an upside-down exclamation mark ¡  at the start of the command and a usual exclamation mark! at the end.

For a negative imperative, we use no in front of the verb to make it negative.

Some Common Words To Trace Imperative Mood Spanish

Vamos, vaya, ¡Venga ya!, dime, cuentame, fijate.. These are just some common imperatives in Spanish that you’ll hear in everyday conversations. 

How the Imperative Form in Spanish is Formed

The conjugation of the imperative mood (which lacks the yo form, as commands are directed at others) follows the same patterns as the present subjunctive, except for tú and vosotros.

• Tú is the same as the third-person singular of the present indicative (habla, come, vive).
• Vosotros drops the -r of the infinitive and adds -d (hablad, comed, vivid).

If you are uncertain about the conjugation of present subjunctive, go check our article about the subjunctive mood.

Regular Verbs: -AR, -ER, -IR Imperative Forms

Pronoun	Hablar (to speak)	Comer (to eat)	Vivir (to live)
Tú	¡Habla!	¡Come!	¡Vive!
Usted	¡Hable!	¡Coma!	¡Viva!
Nosotros	¡Hablemos!	¡Comamos!	¡Vivamos!
Vosotros	¡Hablad!	¡Comed!	¡Vivid!
Ustedes	¡Hablen!	¡Coman!	¡Vivan!

Affirmative vs. Negative Commands in Spanish

Commands can also be negative in Spanish, in this case they are useful when asking someone not to do a certain action or to prohibit it. In the case of negative commands, all forms use the present subjunctive, including tú and vosotros.

Pronoun	Hablar (to speak)	Comer (to eat)	Vivir (to live)
Tú	¡No hables!	¡No comas!	¡No vivas!
Usted	¡No hable!	¡No coma!	¡No viva!
Nosotros	¡No hablemos!	¡No comamos!	¡No vivamos!
Vosotros	¡No habléis!	¡No comáis!	¡No viváis!
Ustedes	¡No hablen!	¡No coman!	¡No vivan!

Spanish Imperative Conjugation Rules

Imperative Conjugation for Irregular Verbs

In Spanish imperative mood, 8 verbs have irregular affirmative tú commands. To remember them easily, you can use this mnemonic:

 “Vin Diesel Has Ten Weapons”

What has Vin Diesel to do with Spanish imperative? Each word in this phrase corresponds to an irregular affirmative tú command in Spanish:

Ven Di Sal Haz Ten Ve Pon Sé

Command	Verb (Infinitive)	English Meaning
Ven	Venir	Come
Di	Decir	Say/Tell
Sal	Salir	Leave/Go out
Haz	Hacer	Do/Make
Ten	Tener	Have
Ve	Ir	Go
Pon	Poner	Put
Sé	Ser	Be

Full Imperative Conjugation for Irregular Verbs

The rest of the conjugation is regular, with the exception of the verb ir, which also has different affirmative and negative nosotros commands. 

Infinitive	Tú (Aff.)	Tú (Neg.)	Usted	Nosotros	Vosotros (Aff.)	Vosotros (Neg.)
Venir (to come)	Ven	No vengas	Venga	Vengamos	Venid	No vengáis
Decir (to say/tell)	Di	No digas	Diga	Digamos	Decid	No digáis
Salir (to leave)	Sal	No salgas	Salga	Salgamos	Salid	No salgáis
Hacer (to do/make)	Haz	No hagas	Haga	Hagamos	Haced	No hagáis
Tener (to have)	Ten	No tengas	Tenga	Tengamos	Tened	No tengáis
Ir (to go)	Ve	No vayas	Vaya	Vamos / no vayamos	Id	No vayáis
Poner (to put)	Pon	No pongas	Ponga	Pongamos	Poned	No pongáis
Ser (to be)	Sé	No seas	Sea	Seamos	Sed	No seáis

Apart from these 8 special verbs, other verbs have irregular imperative forms because their present subjunctive is irregular. 

Infinitive	Tú (Affirmative)	Tú (Negative)	Usted	Vosotros (Affirmative)	Vosotros (Negative)	Ustedes
Dar (to give)	Da	No des	Dé	Dad	No deis	Den
Saber (to know)	Sabe (rare)	No sepas	Sepa	Sabed (rare)	No sepáis	Sepan
Estar (to be)	Está (rare)	No estés	Esté	Estad (rare)	No estéis	Estén

Spanish Imperative Chart (Visual Guide)

Commands in Spanish with Examples

If you want to get the hang of Spanish commands here you will get the most commonly commands used in Spanish with their English meaning.

Ven aquí. (Come here.)

Escucha. (Listen.)

No hables. (Don’t talk.)

Hazlo ahora. (Do it now.)

Dime la verdad. (Tell me the truth.)

Common Spanish Commands for Daily Life

While we speak in our routine life we opt to use some real and easy words which are conversational and used many times a day. Here are a few bunch of Spanish commands for daily routine.

Dame eso. (Give me that.)

Espera un momento. (Wait a moment.)

Mira esto. (Look at this.)

Lávate las manos. (Wash your hands.)

No toques eso. (Don’t touch that.)

How to Do Commands in Spanish

Do you want to learn how to do commands in Spanish, here is an easy way that you can remember and it will remain in your mind because it is short and crisp to remember.

Follow these simple steps.

1: Use the imperative mood for direct commands.

2: Affirmative commands: Use the present indicative (except for tú & vosotros).

3: Negative commands: Use the present subjunctive for all forms.

Command Form in the Imperative Mood (Usage in Sentences)

Lets have a look at some common Spanish imperative mood example sentences so you can relate it with your routine and speak perfect imperatives.

The good thing about these examples sentences is they have the negative imperatives as well which can vividly help you how to form the negative and affirmative Spanish imperatives side by side.

Tú: Habla más despacio. (Speak slower.) / No hables tan rápido. (Don’t speak so fast.)

Usted: Pase, por favor. (Come in, please.) / No fume aquí. (Don’t smoke here.)

Nosotros: Comamos juntos. (Let’s eat together.) / No salgamos tarde. (Let’s not leave late.)

Vosotros: Escuchad la música. (Listen to the music.) / No gritéis. (Don’t yell.)

Ustedes: Hagan la tarea. (Do the homework.) / No corran en el pasillo. (Don’t run in the hallway.)

The Negative Imperative Mood in Spanish

All languages has both affirmative and negative imperatives. Spanish also shares the same characteristics. Imperative mood used to tell someone when not to do something.You can use the present subjunctive to form negative imperative mood for all subjects.

Let’s learn how to form the negative Spanish commands.

Formation of Negative Commands in Spanish

Here is a three step procedure to form the negative Spanish commands.

1: You need to just get started with the yo form of the present tense.

2: Drop the -o ending of the verb used in the sentence.

3: Add the opposite vowel endings(by now you must have known the opposite vowel  endings).

AR verbs → -es (tú), -e (usted), -emos (nosotros), -éis (vosotros), -en (ustedes)

ER/IR verbs → -as (tú), -a (usted), -amos (nosotros), -áis (vosotros), -an (ustedes)

Examples:

No hables. (Don’t talk.)

No coma eso. (Don’t eat that.)

No salgamos tarde. (Let’s not leave late.)

Differences between Affirmative and Negative Commands

There is majorly not many difference between the affirmative and negative commands in Spanish but if you learn the one and only difference it becomes easier to navigate from and affirmative to a negative command easily.

You will find the examples for both affirmative and negative Spanish commands to explain clearly how to change formation.

Affirmative	Negative
Use the present indicative (except for tú & vosotros)	Use the present subjunctive
Habla más despacio. (Speak slower.)	No hables tan rápido. (Don’t speak so fast.)
Come la comida. (Eat the food.)	No comas eso. (Don’t eat that.)
Dímelo. (Tell me.)	No me lo digas. (Don’t tell me.)

Conclusion

Today you have learnt what is a Spanish imperative mood and what is the accurate way of forming the imperative. You also got to know an easy mnemonic for the imperatives. You also got to know how about the affirmative and negative imperatives. 

To practice more about the real usage of the Spanish imperative mood it is a good idea to take listen to the imperatives as spoken by your favorite character in a Netflix or YouTube videos.

You can take Jolii as a learning platform to import any video you like so you can learn and enjoy simultaneously. Improve learning imperatives with Jolii, download today to boost your Spanish imperative mood.