A1 · Word order
Giving instructions
Komm! Kommt! Kommen Sie!
Three imperative forms, one of which keeps its pronoun and two of which drop it.
German has three people it can give an instruction to, so it has three imperatives. To one familiar person the verb stands alone with no pronoun and usually no ending: Komm!, Warte!, Geh! To several familiar people it is the ihr form, again without a pronoun: Kommt!, Wartet!
The polite form is the odd one out: it keeps the pronoun and puts it after the verb. Kommen Sie! Without the Sie the sentence would be an infinitive and would not be an instruction at all.
Strong verbs that change e to i in the present keep that change in the imperative: nehmen → Nimm!, geben → Gib!, lesen → Lies! Verbs that take an umlaut do not: fahren → Fahr!, not "Fähr".
Die Form
| du | Komm! Warte! Nimm! |
| ihr | Kommt! Wartet! Nehmt! |
| Sie | Kommen Sie! Nehmen Sie! |
| wir | Gehen wir! — let us go |
| sein | Sei! Seid! Seien Sie! |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
The du imperative is the verb stem, with no pronoun.
Warte kurz!Wait a second!
The Sie imperative keeps the pronoun after the verb.
Kommen Sie bitte herein.Please come in.
An e-to-i change carries into the imperative, an umlaut does not.
Nimm das! Fahr langsam!Take that! Drive slowly!
Separable verbs split, and the prefix goes to the end.
Mach das Fenster zu!Close the window!
Genauer hingesehen
Softening an instruction
A German imperative on its own is an order, and the language has a set of small words for taking the edge off: mal makes it casual, doch makes it an invitation, ruhig gives permission, and bitte does the obvious. Komm mit, Komm doch mit and Komm ruhig mit are three different social acts.
Beyond the particles, German softens by turning the instruction into a question: Könnten Sie kurz helfen? or Würden Sie bitte warten? In a formal setting these are far more common than the imperative itself.
Ausnahmen und Sonderfälle (2)
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the stem ends in -d, -t or a consonant cluster
the du imperative takes an -e.
Warte! Öffne! Rechne!Wait! Open! Calculate!
The ending is needed to make the word pronounceable.
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the verb is sein
all three forms are irregular.
Sei still! Seid still! Seien Sie still!Be quiet!
The commonest verb keeps the oldest forms.
Woran man es erkennt
- bitte
- mal
- doch
- ruhig
- !
Beispielsätze
Komm bitte her.Come here please.
Nehmt eure Sachen mit.Take your things with you.
Warten Sie einen Moment.Wait a moment.
Sei bitte pünktlich.Please be on time.
Gehen wir!Let us go!
Noch 6 Beispielsätze
Ruf mich an!Give me a call!
Vergiss das nicht.Do not forget that.
Setzen Sie sich bitte.Please have a seat.
Lies das mal.Have a read of this.
Fangt schon mal an.Go ahead and start.
Seien Sie unbesorgt.Do not worry.
Besonderheiten (2)
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The infinitive as a public instruction
Signs, recipes and instruction manuals use the bare infinitive at the end of the sentence: <z>Nicht öffnen</z>, <z>Zwiebeln klein schneiden</z>, <z>Vor Gebrauch schütteln</z>. It addresses everybody and nobody, which is exactly why it is wrong when speaking to a person.
-
The wir form is a suggestion
<z>Gehen wir!</z> and <z>Fangen wir an!</z> use the verb first with <z>wir</z> after it — the same shape as the polite imperative — and mean "let us". German has no separate word for "let us"; the word order does the job.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
Dropping the pronoun from the polite imperative leaves a bare infinitive, and a bare infinitive in German is a notice rather than a request: Bitte nicht rauchen, Türen schließen. It is exactly the register of a sign on a wall — impersonal, addressed to nobody in particular — so saying it to a person sounds like being ordered about by a machine.
du and ihr drop the pronoun; Sie keeps it.
Jetzt selbst
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