Conjugaciones del imperativo
The Spanish imperative exists for 5 different grammatical people: tú, Ud., nosotros, vosotros, and Uds. For two of these, affirmative and negative imperatives have different conjugations.
Regular -AR verbs
The imperative for all commands for Ud., Uds., and nosotros are formed by taking the present tense of the verb and changing the A at the beginning of the suffix to E.
Present tense | Imperative | ||
affirmative | negative | ||
Ud. estudia | estudie | no estudie | |
nosotros estudiamos | estudiemos | no estudiemos | |
Uds. estudian | estudien | no estudien |
This is also how negative commands for tú and vosotros are formed:
tú estudias | no estudies | |
vosotros estudiáis | no estudiéis |
For affirmative commands for tú, take the present tense and drop the final S:
tú estudias | estudia |
For affirmative commands for vosotros, take the infinitive and replace the final R with a D:
estudiar | estudiad |
Regular -ER verbs
For all Ud., Uds., and nosotros commands, change the E at the beginning of the suffix to A.
Ud. bebe | beba | no beba | |
nosotros bebemos | bebamos | no bebamos | |
Uds. beben | beban | no beban |
Ditto for negative commands for tú and vosotros:
tú bebes | no bebas | |
vosotros bebéis | no bebáis |
Tú affirmative: take the present tense and drop the final S:
tú bebes | bebe |
Vosotros affirmative: take the infinitive and replace the final R with a D:
beber | bebed |
Regular -IR verbs
These are a little more complicated, but still based on the present tense.
For tú negative,* Ud., and Uds., change the E at the beginning of the suffix to A.
tú abres | * | no abras | |
Ud. abre | abra | no abra | |
Uds. abren | abran | no abran |
For nosotros: change the I at the beginning of the suffix to A.
nosotros abrimos | abramos | no abramos |
For vosotros negative:** change Í to ÁI.
vosotros abrís | no abráis |
* Tú affirmative: take the present tense and drop the final S:
tú abres | abre |
** Vosotros affirmative: take the infinitive and replace the final R with D:
abrir | abrid |
Notes
- The imperative endings for -ER and -IR verbs are identical.
- The vast majority of Spanish imperative conjugations are the same as subjunctive conjugations.
- The tú and vosotros affirmative commands follow the same pattern for all three types of regular verbs.
Imperative Quizzes
Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on the Spanish imperative with these fill-in-the-blanks exercises:
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Related lessons
- Using the imperative
- Imperative with object pronouns
- Imperative lessons – PwLS super list
- Indirect commands
- Negation
- Introduction to verbs
Spanish lesson plans
- Commands (Project, 6th-12th grade)
- Imperative Mood (Lesson, 6th-12th grade)
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