Informal Commands

1. Los mandatos informales (Informal Commands)

Informal commands are also called "familiar commands," "casual commands," or "informal imperatives." A sentence that expresses such a command is an imperative sentence.

Informal commands are used when the person giving the command is addressing the other person as tú (this would be a singular informal imperative) or addressing more than one person as vosotros (a plural informal imperative used in most of Spain). In Latin America and parts of Spain, a command addressing more than one person (a plural imperative) would use the ustedes form, which can be either formal or informal.

did you know

It is becoming more common in Spain and Mexico in particular to address others as tú rather than usted. Also, in situations where there is a difference in age, status, or level of authority, the person with greater status or authority (a teacher, boss, doctor, police officer, older person, etc.) will likely use the tú form, while the person who is younger or has less authority would use usted.

To begin the lesson:

watch

The table below shows a few examples of when informal commands would be used. Note the usage and preview the form. See if you can guess how they are structured based on what you see.

Audio	Person / People Being Addressed	Spanish (English)
	a child	Come las verduras primero. (Eat the vegetables first.)
	multiple children	Comed las verduras primero. Coman las verduras primero. (Eat the vegetables first.)
	a friend	Llámame esta noche. (Call me tonight.) Llámame, llamadme, and llámenme have the pronoun me attached to the command. You will learn when to attach pronouns later in this lesson.
	some friends	Llamadme esta noche. Llámenme esta noche. (Call me tonight.)
	a classmate	Escribe los apuntes en tu cuaderno. (Write the notes in your notebook.)
	multiple classmates	Escribid los apuntes en vuestros cuadernos. Escriban los apuntes en sus cuadernos. (Write the notes in your notebooks.)
	a sibling	Lava la ropa. (Wash the clothes.)
	multiple siblings	Lavad la ropa. Laven la ropa. (Wash the clothes.)

As you can see, commands in Spanish are very direct. You do not need to preface a command with a polite phrase like “It would be nice if you could...” or “I would like for you to....” Most sentences in which a command is used will feature the verb in the command form at the beginning of the sentence. You can think of a command verb as a “bossy verb.”

In English, you use the same verb form in both affirmative and negative commands:

EXAMPLE

Come here. Don’t come here. Talk to him. Don’t talk to him.

However, in Spanish, the affirmative and negative forms are different for tú and vosotros commands. You will learn them separately in the next sections.

hint

The Spanish word for “command” is mandato. A command is a mandate. You are giving a mandate.

term to know

Imperative Sentence

A sentence that expresses a direct command, request, warning, or instruction.

1a. Affirmative Tú Commands

Tú commands are used when telling someone whom you would address as tú what to do or what not to do. You would use them when addressing only one person and never with a person whom you would address as usted.

To form a regular affirmative tú command, you simply use the third person singular of the present tense (the form used with usted, él, and ella). This will not be the case with irregular commands, which you will learn about later in this lesson.

So, how will you know whether the third person singular of the present tense or an informal command is being used when you hear a sentence? Context will tell you. Compare the following examples:

EXAMPLE

	Elena escribe bien. (Elena writes well.) This is a statement or declaration. Elena is the subject, so the verb is in the third person singular (the form for ella). This is the present tense. You are saying what she does.
	¡Escribe mejor, Elena! (Write better, Elena!) In this case, you are speaking to Elena and telling her, “Write better!” This is an informal command. You are addressing Elena casually (as tú) and telling her what to do.

Even though we are addressing another person when we give a command, the pronoun tú is not included in the sentence unless it is being used for contrast. In that case, it would appear after the command, not before it.

In the short interaction below, see if you can understand what Josefina and Carlos are asking each other in Spanish before looking at the translation in English below the summary of this lesson.

Name	Spanish
Josefina:	Lava los platos.
Carlos:	No, ¡lávalos tú!

Here are some additional examples of affirmative tú commands. Often, someone will give several commands at once, as in this case of a mother telling her child what to do.

Audio	Spanish	English
	Luis, saca la basura, lava los platos y arregla tu habitación.	Luis, take out the trash, wash the dishes and straighten your room.
	Marisa, llama a tu abuela por teléfono. Después, escribe la composición para tu clase de literatura.	Marisa, call your grandmother on the phone. Afterwards, write the composition for your literature class.

There are some irregular informal commands, but we have a mnemonic device, or memory trick, to help you remember which ones they are. Be sure to watch the video to learn it!

Take a look at some irregular tú commands:

Audio	Spanish Informal Command	Spanish Infinitive	Spanish Example (English Translation)
	ven	venir	¡Ven acá! (Come here!)
	di	decir	Dime. ¿Cómo te fue? (Tell me. How was it? / How did it go?) Decir can also mean “to say.”
	sal	salir	Sal de aquí. Estoy trabajando. (Get out of here. I am working.) Salir can also mean “to leave.”
	haz	hacer	Haz la tarea. (Do your homework.) Hacer can also mean “to make.”
	ten	tener	¡Ten cuidado! (Be careful!) (Literally, “Have caution!”)
	ve	ir	Ve a tu habitación. (Go to your room.)
	pon	poner	Pon tus zapatos en el garaje. (Put your shoes in the garage.)
	sé	ser	Sé buena chica. (Be a good girl.)

try it

Complete each sentence using the affirmative informal command form of the given infinitive. Click on the plus sign to see the answer.

1. _____ (poner) los libros en la mochila.

Answer: Pon los libros en la mochila.

2. _____ (tomar) la medicina ahora.

Answer: Toma la medicina ahora.

3. _____ (practicar) el piano.

Answer: Practica el piano.

4. _____ (salir) de la clase a tiempo.

Answer: Sal de la clase a tiempo.

5. _____ (volver) a las cuatro y media.

Answer: Vuelve a las cuatro y media.

There are many countries in Latin America that use el voseo. This is the use of the pronoun vos as an informal singular form of address (like tú). In some places, vos and tú are both used. In others, only vos is used. While they mostly share the same verb forms (e.g., tú estudiabas / vos estudiabas, tú hablaste / vos hablaste), the forms for vos and tú in the present tense indicative (taught in Spanish I) and in the imperative are not the same.

Take a look at the vos affirmative imperative forms below:

Tú	Vos
habla	hablá
come	comé
escribe	escribí
juega	jugá
pide	pedí

Essentially, to form an imperative for vos, you will simply drop the -r from the end of the infinitive and then add a written accent mark to the final vowel. This process does not work for ir, however, as you would be left with just the letter í. Spanish speakers will instead use the tú form for the command “go” (ve), or they will use the verb andar (which has a similar meaning) in place of ir.

The negative vos commands are the same as the negative tú commands, which you will learn next.

1b. Negative Tú Commands

The negative informal commands are the commands used when telling someone what not to do. You are still addressing the person as tú, but unfortunately, they are formed differently than the affirmative commands.

First, look at the examples in the table:

Audio	Person Being Addressed	Spanish (English)
	a child	No comas tantos dulces. (Don’t eat so much candy/ so many sweets.)
	a friend	No me llames esta noche. No me llames has the pronoun me placed in front of the negative command. You will learn more about pronoun placement later in this lesson. (Don’t call me tonight.)
	a classmate	No escribas los apuntes en mi cuaderno. (Don’t write the notes in my notebook.)
	a sibling	No laves la ropa en agua caliente. (Don’t wash the clothes in hot water.)

Follow these steps when forming negative informal commands:

step by step

1. Start with the yo form of the present tense.
This is important because spelling changes and stem changes in the yo form will carry into the negative informal commands.

• hablar → hablo
• comer → como
• escribir → escribo
• salir → salgo
• cerrar → cierro

Note that these underlined verbs have either a spelling change or a stem change. This will affect the new informal command stem. Verbs with a stem change (like cierro) will keep that stem change in the negative informal command. Verbs with a spelling change in the yo form (like salgo) will keep that irregularity in the negative informal command.

2. Take off the -o from the end of the yo form.
Now you have a new stem. It is often the same as the stem in the infinitive, but sometimes it is different.

• hablar → habl
• comer → com
• escribir → escrib
• salir → salg
• cerrar → cierr

These are the new stems onto which you will add the negative informal command endings.

3. For the ending, add the “opposite” vowel plus -s.
That is to say, for -ar verbs, you add the ending -es, while for -er and -ir verbs, you add the ending -as.

• hablar → No hables.
• comer → No comas.
• escribir → No escribas.
• salir → No salgas.
• cerrar → No cierres.

Remember that these steps are only used to form negative informal commands. You will always see the word no or some other negative word (like nunca or tampoco) in front of the verb.

Of course, there are also some irregular negative commands. They are not the same irregular forms as the irregular affirmative commands (nor are they exactly the same verbs, although some are).

Below are the irregular negative tú commands. There is a reason that these verbs are irregular: Their yo form does not end in -o. As there is no -o to drop, the other steps cannot be followed, so they are irregular.

Audio	Spanish Informal Command (English Translation)	Spanish Infinitive	Yo Form
	No estés (Don’t be.)	estar	estoy
	No vayas. (Don’t go.)	ir	voy
	No sepas. (Don’t know.) (This verb is almost never used as a command.)	saber	sé
	No seas. (Don’t be.)	ser	soy
	No des. (Don’t give.)	dar You have not learned the verb dar yet. It means “to give.” You will see its other forms and uses in a later lesson.	doy

There are also some negative informal commands that have spelling changes, mostly due to the fact that adding an ending that uses a different vowel impacts the pronunciation of a particular letter:

1. Verbs ending in -car will change to -ques.

EXAMPLE

tocar:

No toques el piano ahora. (Don’t play the piano right now.)

2. Verbs ending in -gar will change to -gues.

EXAMPLE

pagar:

No pagues con tarjeta de crédito. (Don’t pay with a credit card.)

3. Verbs ending in -zar will change to -ces.

EXAMPLE

empezar:

No empieces el examen ahora. (Don’t begin the exam right now.)

try it

Form the negative informal command of each infinitive given. Be sure to include no in front of your command. Click on the plus sign to see the answer.

1. ___ _____ (caminar) en el parque por la noche.

Answer: No camines en el parque por la noche.

2. ___ _____ (jugar) al fútbol americano sin casco.

Answer: No juegues al fútbol americano sin casco.

3. ___ _____ (dar) consejos (advice) a tu profesor.

Answer: No des consejos (advice) a tu profesor.

4. ___ _____ (hablar) en clase.

Answer: No hables en clase.

5. ___ _____ (comer) en el laboratorio.

Answer: No comas en el laboratorio.

1c. Affirmative Vosotros Commands

In Spain, the plural informal imperative or vosotros command is used. This command form is used when telling more than one person at a time (a group of people that you would address as vosotros or vosotras) what to do or what not to do.

To form an affirmative vosotros command, you will remove the -r from the infinitive and add -d. It’s that simple! There are no exceptions to this.

• hablar -r + d → hablad
• dar - r + d → dad
• comer -r + d → comed
• compartir -r + d → compartid
• seguir -r +d → seguid

Now let’s imagine that a mother in Spain is telling both of her children what to do. Here are some examples of informal vosotros commands:

Audio	Spanish	English
	Luis y Marisa, sacad la basura, lavad los platos y arreglad vuestras habitaciones.	Luis and Marisa, take out the trash, wash the dishes and straighten your rooms.
	Marisa y Luis, llamad a vuestra abuela por teléfono. Después, haced la tarea.	Marisa and Luis, call your grandmother on the phone. Afterwards, do your homework.

1d. Negative Vosotros Commands

The negative vosotros commands are the commands used when telling others (a group of people whom you would address as vosotros or vosotras) what not to do.

Unfortunately, they are formed differently than the affirmative vosotros commands. But, you will mostly follow the same steps as you did with the negative tú commands. First, look at the examples in the table:

Audio	People Being Addressed	Spanish	English
	multiple children	No comáis tantos dulces.	Don’t eat so much candy / so many sweets.
	multiple friends	No habléis con Antonio.	Don’t speak to Antonio.

How to form negative vosotros commands:

step by step

1. Start with the yo form of the present tense.

• hablar → hablo
• comer → como
• escribir → escribo
• salir → salgo (Remember that salir has a spelling change.)

2. Take off the -o from the yo form.

• hablar → habl
• comer → com
• escribir → escrib
• salir → salg

3. For -ar verbs, add the ending -éis. For -er and -ir verbs, add the ending -áis.

• hablar → No habléis.
• comer → No comáis.
• escribir → No escribáis.
• salir → No salgáis.

Remember that these steps are only used to form negative commands. You will always see the word no or some other negative word (like nunca or tampoco) in front of the verb.

Because the negative vosotros commands follow the same steps as the negative tú commands, the same group of verbs are irregular for the vosotros command form:

• No estéis. (estar)
• No vayáis. (ir)
• No sepáis. (saber)
• No seáis. (ser)
• No deis. (dar)

The same verbs will also have spelling changes in the negative vosotros commands as you saw with the negative tú commands:

1. Verbs ending in -car will change to -quéis.

EXAMPLE

tocar:

No toquéis el piano ahora. (Don’t play the piano now.)

2. Verbs ending in -gar will change to -guéis.

EXAMPLE

pagar:

No paguéis con tarjeta de crédito. (Don’t pay by credit card.)

3. Verbs ending in -zar will change to -céis.

EXAMPLE

cruzar:

No crucéis la calle aquí. (Don’t cross the street here.)

try it

Provide the vosotros commands of each infinitive given. If you see no or nunca in front of the command, provide the negative command. Each problem will have one affirmative and one negative vosotros command. Click on the plus sign to see the answer.

1. _____ (usar) los lápices para la tarea de matemáticas. Nunca _____ (escribir) con bolígrafos.

Answer: Usad los lápices para la tarea de matemáticas. Nunca escribáis con bolígrafos.

2. _____ (lavar) la ropa a mano. No la _____ (poner) en la lavadora.

Answer: Lavad la ropa a mano. No la pongáis en la lavadora.

3. _____ (beber) agua. No _____ (tomar) refrescos.

Answer: Bebed agua. No toméis refrescos.

4. No _____ (jugar) a los videojuegos ahora. _____ (hacer) la tarea primero.

Answer: No juguéis a los videojuegos ahora. Haced la tarea primero.

1e. Ustedes Commands

In Latin America, the vosotros form is not used. This means that ustedes can be either formal or informal. While you will not learn formal commands in this course, in the event that you are giving a command to more than one person in Latin America, the ustedes form would always be used.

Fortunately, the ustedes command form is the same for both affirmative and negative commands. The only difference would be the need for no, nunca, or some other negative word in front of a negative command.

Let’s see what the previous examples would look like with ustedes commands:

Audio	Spanish	English
	Luis y Marisa, saquen la basura, laven los platos y arreglen sus habitaciones.	Luis and Marisa, take out the trash, wash the dishes, and straighten your rooms.
	Marisa y Luis, llamen a su abuela por teléfono. Después, hagan la tarea.	Marisa and Luis, call your grandmother on the phone. Afterwards, do your homework.

Audio	People Being Addressed	Spanish	English
	multiple children	No coman tantos dulces.	Don’t eat so much candy / so many sweets.
	multiple friends	No hablen con Antonio.	Don’t speak to Antonio.

The forms should look familiar. Forming ustedes commands requires almost the same steps that you followed for negative tú and vosotros commands. Only the last step is different. You still add the opposite vowel, but then the final letter is n.

Here are the steps for both affirmative and negative ustedes commands:

step by step

1. Start with the yo form of the present tense.

• hablar → hablo
• comer → como
• escribir → escribo
• salir → salgo (Note the spelling change.)

2. Take off the -o from the yo form.

• hablar → habl
• comer → com
• escribir → escrib
• salir → salg

3. For -ar verbs, add the ending -en. For -er and -ir verbs, add the ending -an.

• hablar → Hablen. / No hablen.
• comer → Coman. / No coman.
• escribir → Escriban. / No escriban.
• salir → Salgan. / No salgan.

Because the ustedes commands (affirmative and negative) follow the same steps as the negative tú and negative vosotros commands, the same verbs are irregular for the ustedes commands:

• No estén. (estar)
• No vayan. (ir)
• No sepan. (saber)
• No sean. (ser)
• No den. (dar)

The same verbs will also have spelling changes:

1. Verbs ending in -car will change to -quen.

EXAMPLE

tocar:

No toquen el piano ahora.

2. Verbs ending in -gar will change to -guen.

EXAMPLE

pagar:

No paguen con tarjeta de crédito.

3. Verbs ending in -zar will change to -cen.

EXAMPLE

cruzar:

No crucen la calle aquí. (Don’t cross the street here.)

try it

Provide the ustedes command for each infinitive given. Click on the plus sign to see the answer.

1. Niños, no _____ (jugar) al fútbol en la casa.

Answer: Niños, no jueguen al fútbol en la casa.

2. Catalina y Eva, _____ (ir) al mercado y _____ (comprar) pan para la cena.

Answer: Catalina y Eva, vayan al mercado y compren pan para la cena.

3. _____ (sacar) la basura los martes.

Answer: Saquen la basura los martes.

4. Pepito y Maite, _____ (compartir) los juguetes.

Answer: Pepito y Maite, compartan los juguetes.

5. _____ (beber) por lo menos 64 onzas de agua por día.

Answer: Beban por lo menos 64 onzas de agua por día.

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2. Los pronombres átonos con mandatos (Weak Pronouns With Commands)

Often, you will need to use a weak pronoun with a command. These include direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, and reflexive pronouns. The placement of such pronouns will depend upon whether the command is affirmative or negative.

Weak Pronoun Placement with Affirmative Informal Command	Weak Pronoun Placement with Negative Informal Command
AA (Attach to Affirmative) You will attach weak pronouns to the end of affirmative commands. Remember: Attach to affirmative.	NN (Not to Negative) You will place weak pronouns before negative commands (but after the word no or other negative word). Remember: Do not attach to negative.
Hazlo. / Hacedlo. / Háganlo.	No lo hagas. / No lo hagáis. / No lo hagan.
Háblame.	No me hables.
Escríbemelo.	No me lo escribas.
Tómala.	No la tomes.
Cepíllate los dientes en el baño.	No te cepilles los dientes en la cocina.

Note that if your affirmative tú or ustedes command has two or more syllables, you will need to add a written accent mark on the next-to-last syllable of the command before adding the pronouns.

If your affirmative vosotros command has three or more syllables, you will need to add a written accent mark on the last syllable of the command before adding the pronouns. Adding a written accent mark maintains the original stress of the verb.

EXAMPLE

	Come. (Eat.) → Cómelo. (Eat it.)
	Encuentra. (Find.) → Encuéntramelo. (Find it for me.)

Also, remember that if you have both an indirect object pronoun and a direct object pronoun, the indirect object pronoun goes first. If both of the pronouns begin with the letter L, you will replace le or les with se.

EXAMPLE

	Dame el teléfono celular a mí. → Dámelo.
	No le digas el secreto a él. → No se lo digas.

Did you notice the command cepillaos? When adding the reflexive pronoun os to an affirmative vosotros command, the final d of the affirmative command will drop before adding os.

EXAMPLE

The vosotros command meaning “Brush your teeth” would be Cepillaos los dientes.

If you add os to an -ir verb, you will need to add an accent mark over the i.

EXAMPLE

	Levantaos ahora.
	Poneos los abrigos.
	Vestíos.

hint

The exception is irse. It retains the d and becomes:

¡Idos!

The affirmative vosotros commands with reflexive pronouns in particular will have colloquial variations.

EXAMPLE

	While Sentaos is grammatically correct, you may hear Sentados or Sentaros.
	Similarly, you may hear Iros instead of Idos for “Leave.” The infinitive form without any pronoun attached is also sometimes used as a plural imperative.
	You may hear someone say, Venir aquí.

try it

Turn the following infinitives into affirmative commands. Provide the tú command for the first blank, the vosotros command for the second blank, and the ustedes command for the third blank. Click on the plus sign to see the answer.

1. escribirla _____, _____, _____

Answer: escríbela, escribidla, escríbanla

2. hacerlo _____, _____, _____

Answer: hazlo, hacedlo, háganlo

3. decirme _____, _____, _____

Answer: dime, decidme, díganme

Now turn the following infinitives into negative commands. Provide the tú command, the vosotros command, and the ustedes command. Remember to remove the pronouns and place them before the verbs. Be sure to include the word no before your commands. Click on the plus sign to see the answers.

4. prepararlo _____, _____, _____

Answer: No lo prepares, No lo preparéis, No lo preparen

5. leerlos _____, _____, _____

Answer: No los leas, No los leáis, No los lean

6. sacudirlos _____, _____, _____

Answer: No los sacudas, No los sacudáis, No los sacudan

term to know

Weak Pronoun

A pronoun that must always fall immediately before or after a verb; it cannot stand on its own.

Let's listen to a sample dialogue using informal commands, then you will have a chance to practice using them also!

watch