Spanish speakers are in general very direct – specially people from Spain like me. Some students would mistakenly think that imperative is not a very common conjugation, but actually we use it a lot.
The most common forms in imperative for Spanish people are «tú» and «vosotros» while in other countries they will use «usted» and «ustedes». It is also possible to use imperative with nosotros, for example when we want to say something like «Let´s learn together!» (aprendamos juntos).
Let’s see what do we use imperativo for:
Now, we are going to learn the form of imperativo.
As we can see in the chart above, the form for tú and vosotros will change if the sentence is negative, while the other forms will remain the same.
We will learn the negative form for tú and vosotros first, as it follows the same structure as the other subjects. In order to conjugate this form, we would take presente de indicativo as a reference.
The ending of the verbs -ar will be changed with the ending of the verbs-er in presente de indicativo and the verbs -er, -ir will take the ending from the verbs -ar.
Imperativo negativo de Sara Segoviano
Now let’s practice in context:
The form of imperativo for nosotros / usted / ustedes doesn’t change in the negative form.
Ejemplos:
– No escriba su nombre, escriba su apellido.
– Hablemos en español, no hablemos en inglés.
– Beban agua, no beban vino.
Now, let’s see the form for tú in affirmative sentences. It is very easy, we only have to take out the «s» of the verb in presente.
For vosotros, we will take the verb in infinitive and change the «r» for a «d».
Ejemplos:
– María, recoge los platos.
– Vosotros, salid a la pizarra.
