Download Mr - TeacherWeb

Mr. Rodríguez
Español III
El Imperativo
The Imperative Mood is the only mood in Spanish to have only one tense, the
Commands. The commands are used to tell someone to do or not do something.
Therefore, there is no first person singular command form, one either does or does not do
something. The “usted”, “ustedes”, and “nosotros” conjugation have the same endings
for affirmative and negative commands, while the “tú” and “vosotros” conjugations have
a different endings for affirmative and negative commands. The English equivalent for
the “nosotros” command is “Let’s …”.
Example: Let’s eat = Comamos!
The commands are formed by: 1. Conjugating the verb in first person singular,
present indicative; 2. Dropping the “o”; 3. Adding the appropriate ending. If a verb is
irregular in the first person present, like “salir”, it is still conjugated using the irregular
conjugation and following the same steps.
Endings:
Usted
Ustedes
“ar”
e
En
“er/ir”
a
An
The “vosotros” command uses the
infinitive. Drop the ending, add ...
Vosotros Affirmative Negative
“ar”
ad
Éis
“er”
ed
Áis
“ir”
id
Áis
Examples:
Infinitive
Construir 
Salir 
Ver 
Tú
“ar”
“er/ir”
1st person present
construyo 
salgo 
veo 
Affirmative Negative
A
es
E
as
Nosotros
“ar”
“er”
emos
amos
Command
construya
No salgan
vean
Irregular Commands:
Tú: decir  di, hacer  haz, ir  ve, poner  pon, salir  sal, ser  sé, tener
 ten, venir  ven, dar  da.
* These “tú” and “vosotros” conjugations apply only to negative commands
Dar
Ser
Estar
Ir
Saber
*Tú
des
Seas
Estés
vayas
sepas
El
Nosotros
*Vosotros
Ellos
dé
demos
deis
den
Sea
Seamos
Seais
Sean
Esté
estemos
estéis
estén
Stem changing “ir” verbs have the following changes.
1. o  ue in present, o  u for commands.
2. e  ie in present, e  I for commands.
3. e  I in present, e  I for commands.
vaya
vayamos
vayáis
vayan
sepa
sepamos
sepáis
sepan
Ex:
Ex:
Ex:
The affirmative “nosotros” command for “ir” is “vamos”. On the other hand, “vayamos”
is used for negative commands.
Three different sets of pronouns are used with commands: the direct object
pronoun (D.O.P), the indirect object pronoun (I.O.P), and the reflexive pronouns (R.P).
R.P.
Yo
me
Tú
te
El
se
Nosotros nos
Vosotros os
Ellos
se
I.O.P.
Yo
Me
Tú
Te
El
*le
Nosotros Nos
Vosotros Os
Ellos
*les
D.O.P.
Masc.
Singular Lo
Plural
los
Fem.
la
las
Affirmative commands have the pronouns attached, while negative commands
have the pronouns between the command and “no”. The order of pronouns is R.I.D.
(Reflexives, Indirect, and Direct pronouns). The “nosotros” command had the “s” of the
ending dropped when attaching a Reflexive Pronoun. The Indirect Pronouns “le” and
“les” change to “se” before a Direct Object Pronoun.
Example: (Lavarse) Lavémonos!
Let’s look at different ways to give the command: Write me the letter!
1. Escríbame la carta a mí!
2. Escríbame la carta!
3. Escríbanmela!
Let’s look at different ways to give the command: Write him the letter!
1. Escríbale la carta a él!
2. Escríbale la carta!
3. Escríbansela!
Spelling Changes:
There some spelling changes that apply to commands.
“ar” verbs:
c  qu.
g  gu.
z  c.