El imperativo

Remember the command forms in Spanish depend on whether it is a positive (affirmative) or negative command and to whom you are speaking. Commands are used to tell someone what to do and usually have exclamation points.

Positive/Affirmative Tú

Positive vosotros

No switchy for you in the positive tú. Use the 3^rd person singular present tense form of the verb.

¡Baila!, ¡Come!, ¡Corre!, ¡Escucha!

Remember the irregulars

Haz Di

Pon Ve

Sal Sé

Ten Ven

Simply change the “r” of the infinitive to a “d”

!Escuchad!

Los demás siguen la misma regla

1. Start with present tense yo form

2. Drop the “o”

3. Add “opposite” endings- e´s for –ar verbs, a´s for –er/-ir verbs

-ar -er

!Coman! !Escuchen! !Hagan la tarea! ¡Hablemos! ¡Comamos!

Spelling changes for –car, -gar, -zar all apply here

!Busquen la tarea! !Lleguen a tiempo! ¡Empiecen a trabajar!

(haya)

vaya

sea

sepa

dé

esté

Commands with direct/indirect/reflexive pronouns

Where to put the “extra” stuff (me, te, lo, la, le, se, nos, los, las, les) depends on whether the command is positive/affirmative or negative

Positive commands

Add any pronoun(s) to the end of the command (Don´t drive without your I.D. and don´t be a bobo, lelo´s a no no)

You must add an accent to keep the pronunciation correct

!Báñate! uno, dos, tres boom!!! Add one, boom on tres

!Dígamelo! uno, dos, tres, cuatro boom!!! Add two boom on cuatro

!Escúchenme!

or realize that the accent will go on the second to last syllable/vowel from the end of the INFINITIVE

When dealing with one syllable commands, like for Dar and Decir, the accent will only show up when you add two pronouns.

¡Dime!

¡Dímelo!

¡Deme!

¡Démelo!

Dé (usted-dar) has an accent by itself only to distinguish itself from the preposition “de”

Negative commands

Put any pronoun(s) in front of the command (again don´t drive without your I.D. and don´t be a bobo!)

No need to worry about accents

!No te preocupes de los accentos!