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In Spanish, we use Ud. (usted) or Uds. (ustedes) to
say “you” or “you-all” formally, or respectfully.
person of authority – adult – teacher – doctor…
Note: Ud. (usted) is used to talk to one person
formally, whereas Uds. (ustedes) is used to talk to
more than one person formally.
Highlighted below in blue are the present tense verb
endings for Ud./Uds.
Note: Él/Ella also have the same ending as Ud. and
Ellos/Ellas have the same ending as Uds.
-ar
o amos
as áis
a an
-er
o emos
es éis
e en
-ir
o imos
es ís
e en
Note: The Ud./Uds. endings for –er and –ir verbs are
the same (e, en).
Examples with usted (you, for):
 You (for) are buying the shirt. (comprar)
 Ud. compra la camisa.
 You (for) are eating breakfast. (comer)
 Ud. come el desayuno.
 You (for) are beating the eggs. (batir)
 Ud. bate los huevos.
Examples with ustedes (you-all, for):
 You-all (for) are buying the shirt. (comprar)
 Uds. compran la camisa.
 You-all (for) are eating breakfast. (comer)
 Uds. comen el desayuno.
 You-all (for) are beating the eggs. (batir)
 Uds. baten los huevos.
Now, instead of describing to that person what they
are doing, we are going to respectfully tell that person
what to do. This is called using an Ud./Uds. command.
The spelling of a verb is different when it is used as a
command. When a verb is written in the Ud./Uds.
form as a command, -ar verbs have the regular –er/-ir
verb endings, and –er/-ir verbs have the regular –ar
endings in the Ud./Uds. forms.
Ud./Uds. Regular Verb Endings (not commands)
-ar
-er
-ir
a an
e en
e en
Ud./Uds. Command Verb Endings
-ar
-er
e en
a an
-ir
a an
In other words, -ar and –er/-ir verbs “switch”
Ud./Uds. verb endings when used in command form.
Examples with usted (you, for) commands:
 Buy the shirt. (comprar)
 Ud. compre la camisa.
 Eat breakfast. (comer)
 Ud. coma el desayuno.
 Beat the eggs. (batir)
 Ud. bata los huevos.
Examples with ustedes (you-all, for) commands:
 Buy the shirt. (comprar)
 Uds. compren la camisa.
 Eat breakfast. (comer)
 Uds. coman el desayuno.
 Beat the eggs. (batir)
 Uds. batan los huevos.
If you want to tell someone respectfully not to do
something, this is called a negative command. To make
a command negative, add no before the verb.
Examples of negative Ud./Uds.commands:
 Beat the eggs. (batir) not negative
 Ud. bata los huevos.
 Don’t beat the eggs. (batir) negative
 Ud. no bata los huevos.
 Beat the eggs. (batir) not negative
 Uds. batan los huevos.
 Don’t beat the eggs. (batir) negative
 Uds. no batan los huevos.
Consider the Ud./Uds. conjugations of the following
verbs in the present tense (estar, ir & ser are irregular
verbs in the present tense):
dar
saber
estar
ir
ser
usted
da
sabe
está
va
es
ustedes
dan
saben
están
van
son
All of these verbs are irregular (do not following the
“add e/en for –ar commands” or “add a/an for –er/-ir
commands” rules) in the Ud./Uds. command forms:
usted
ustedes
dar
dé
den
saber
sepa
sepan
estar
esté
estén
ir
vaya
vayan
ser
sea
sean
For example:
You (for) are going to the kitchen. (not a command)
Ud. va a la cocina.
Go to the kitchen. (command)
Ud. vaya a la cocina.
Verbs that end in –car, -gar, and –zar also have a
special spelling change when used as an Ud./Uds.
command.
car: c  qu
gar: g  gu
zar: z  c
buscar  busque
pagar  pague
empezar  empiece
Note: This is very similar to how these verbs change in
the preterite tense, but it is not completely the same.
If an accent is added to the “e” in these verbs, these
change from an Ud./Uds. command to the preterite
yo form of the verb.
The verb empezar is an eie stem-changing verb in
the present tense, so to be written as a command, it
needs to change from zc and eie.
Examples: (Notice the difference that an accent
mark makes!)
busque – means “You (for) search for.” It is the Ud.
present tense command form.
busqué – means “I searched for.” It is the yo preterite
tense form.
pague – means “You (for) pay.” It is the Ud. present
tense command form.
pagué – means “I paid.” It is the yo preterite tense
form.
empiece – means “You (for) begin.” It is the Ud.
present tense command form.
empecé – means “I began.” It is the yo preterite tense
form.
Why does the Ud. command for of empezar have an “i”
but not the preterite yo form?
-ar verbs do not change stem in the preterite tense
(only –ir verbs do). However, Ud./Uds. commands are in
the present tense, so they still undergo stem-changes.
 empezar is an eie stem-changing verb in the
present tense, and thus the Ud. command form is…
 empezar  empiece
-In other words, this verb has a stem-change (eie)
plus another special spelling change (zc) in the
Ud./Uds. command forms.