A2 · Requests and commands
The imperative for tú and vosotros
The third person of the present — and eight outliers.
At a glance
- Remember
- Affirmative for tú: the third person — except in the eight short ones.
- Form
- (tú) hablaspeak! (tú)
- Signal words
- por favor
- venga
- anda
- oye
- mira
- Trap
- Wrong:Pone el libro en la mesa.Right:Pon el libro en la mesa.
Your turn
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Now write it yourself4 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Spanish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending ending for tense and person
| speak! (tú) | (tú) habla |
| speak! (usted) | (usted) hable |
| let’s speak! | (nosotros) hablemos |
| speak! (vosotros) | (vosotros) hablad |
| speak! (ustedes) | (ustedes) hablen |
| tú, regular | habla, come, vive |
| tú, with a stem change | cierra, vuelve, pide |
| tú, own forms | di, haz, ve, pon, sal, sé, ten, ven |
| vosotros | hablad, comed, vivid |
| reflexive, tú | siéntate, levántate |
| reflexive, vosotros | sentaos, levantaos |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The tú form is the third person of the present.
Habla más despacio, por favor.Speak more slowly, please.
The vosotros form replaces -r with -d.
Escuchad con atención.Listen carefully.
Pronouns are attached and written as one word.
Dímelo otra vez.Tell me again.
With a reflexive vosotros the -d drops.
Sentaos donde queráis.Sit wherever you like.
Example sentences
Ven aquí un momento.Come here a moment.
Ten cuidado con el escalón.Mind the step.
Poned la mesa, por favor.Lay the table, please.
Levántate, ya son las ocho.Get up, it is eight o'clock already.
6 more example sentences
Cierra la ventana, hace frío.Shut the window, it is cold.
Haz la cama antes de salir.Make the bed before you go out.
Dime la verdad.Tell me the truth.
Venid a las ocho.Come at eight.
Sal de ahí ahora mismo.Get out of there right now.
Espérame en la entrada.Wait for me at the entrance.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English has one bare form for everybody, so the Spanish short ones look like fragments and get «completed»: pone instead of pon, tiene instead of ten. But that is the third person of the present, and the sentence says «he puts» instead of «put». The eight short forms are complete — they only do not look it.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
For tú the affirmative imperative is the third person singular of the present: él habla → ¡habla!, él come → ¡come!, él vive → ¡vive! That holds for stem-changing verbs too, which keep the change: cierra, vuelve, pide.
For vosotros it is simpler still: the -r of the infinitive becomes -d. hablar → hablad, comer → comed, vivir → vivid. With no exception, in every verb.
Eight verbs have a very short tú form of their own: di (decir), haz (hacer), ve (ir), pon (poner), sal (salir), sé (ser), ten (tener), ven (venir). They are exactly the commonest, and they are short because they get said so often.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: ser · tener · querer · poner · levantarse · cuidar · escuchar · sentarse