Spanish commands: how to tell (and politely ask) people to do things

The Spanish imperative has a few forms and one big rule about pronouns. Learn those, then learn the polite questions Latin Americans use instead of commands half the time.

The regular forms

Three things to notice. The affirmative tú form is just the él/ella form of the present (Ella habla becomes ¡Habla!). Every other form swaps the vowel: -ar verbs take e, -er and -ir verbs take a. And stem changes carry over (cierra, vuelve, pide).

Usted and ustedes don't change between positive and negative: Pase (Come in), No pase (Don't come in). In Latin America ustedes is the plural for everyone, friends included. Spain also has a vosotros command (hablad, no habléis), which you can safely skip for Latin America.

Spelling changes

To keep the sound, some verbs change a letter before e: buscar → no busques, busque; pagar → no pagues, pague; empezar → no empieces, empiece. Verbs with an irregular yo form keep it: tengo → no tengas, tenga; conozco → no conozcas.

The 8 irregular tú commands

These short forms are only for affirmative tú. Negative tú, usted and ustedes come from the yo form as usual.

Two traps: ve is the tú command of both ir (go) and ver (see), and context sorts it out. And sé (be) has an accent to separate it from the pronoun se.

Where the pronouns go

This is the rule that takes practice: with a positive command, pronouns attach to the end of the verb; with a negative command, they go in front, separate. When there are two, the indirect one (me, te, le, nos) comes first, and le or les turns into se before lo, la, los, las.

Why dímelo has an accent and dime doesn't

Adding syllables moves the stress away from the end of the word, so an accent is added to keep it where it was. Di + me = dime is still stressed on the first syllable naturally, so no accent. Di + me + lo = dímelo needs one. Same with explica → explícame, siente → siéntate, pasa → pásamelo. One-syllable commands plus one pronoun usually need nothing: hazlo, ponte, dime, vete. The pronouns course drills this.

Let's: nosotros commands

To say "let's", use the nosotros subjunctive: Comamos aquí (Let's eat here), Pidamos la cuenta (Let's get the bill). The big exception is ir: say Vamos and Vámonos (Let's go), not vayamos. In everyday speech vamos a + infinitive also works: Vamos a ver (Let's see).

What Latin Americans actually say instead

Commands are grammatically correct and fine with family and close friends, especially with por favor. But with strangers, staff and colleagues, a bare command can sound bossy. Most of the time people turn the request into a question in the present tense, which is easier for you too.

You'll also see usted commands on signs and doors in Mexico: Empuje (Push), Jale (Pull), No estacionarse (No parking, an infinitive). Spain uses Tirar for pull.

Common mistakes

• No habla should be No hables. Negative tú commands use the subjunctive.
• No dime should be No me digas. Negative means pronoun in front and a new verb form.
• Dime lo should be Dímelo: one word, with an accent.
• Hace la tarea should be Haz la tarea when you're giving the command.
• Vaya to a friend should be Ve. Vaya is usted.
• Sientate should be Siéntate. The accent is required in writing.

To check your own commands, type them into the free Spanish grammar checker, or look up any verb's imperative in the conjugator.

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