The Imperative mood is used to express commands, orders
or instructions. In order to form the imperative, you must
know two things.
1) What you want done.
2) Who you want to do it.
Nicht Vergessen! (Don’t forget)
There are three words for you in German.
‘du’ - for one person you know well/informally
‘ihr’ - for more than one person you know well/informally
‘Sie’ – for one or more people you treat more formally
The "du" form of the imperative is formed by dropping the final
"-en" of the infinitive and adding "-e" to the end of the word. This
"-e" ending is usually dropped in spoken and written German.
gehen = du gehst = Geh! / Go!
geben = du gibst = Gib! / Give!
schlafen = du schläfst = Schlaf! / Sleep!
If there is an umlaut, remove it.
halten (to stop) Halt!
schauen (to look) Schau!
machen (to do) Mach!
schreiben (to write) Schreib!
If the stem of the verb ends in a t, d, ig, m, or n preceded by
an additional consonant, then the imperative form will retain the
“e”.
warten = wart = Warte! / Wait!
binden = bind = Binde! / Tie!
atmen = atm = Atme! / Breath!
antworten (to answer) Antworte!
öffnen (to open) Öffne!
Irregular or Strong verbs that change the stem vowel to "-i-" or
"-ie-" retain that change in the "du"-imperative.
Here you may not add an "-e":
lesen = liest = Lies! / Read!
sehen = siehst = Sieh! / See!
vergessen = vergisst = Vergiss! / Forget!
helfen (to help) Hilf!
versprechen (to promise) Versprich!
essen (to eat) Iss!
treffen (to meet) Triff!
Unlike other verbs, sein, wissen und werden do not change.
sein = bist = Sei! / Be!
wissen = weißt = Wisse! / Know!
werden = wirst = Werde! / Become!
Sei gut! Be good!
Werde mutig! Become Courageous!
Wisse die Wahrheit! Know the truth!
The Imperative mood is used to express commands, orders
or instructions. In order to form the imperative, you must
know two things.
1) What you want done.
2) Who you want to do it.
Nicht Vergessen! (Don’t forget)
There are three words for you in German.
‘du’ - for one person you know well/informally
‘ihr’ - for more than one person you know well/informally
‘Sie’ – for one or more people you treat more formally
To make the ‘ihr’ form: Simply take the ‘ihr ’ form of the
present tense verb and drop the “ihr”
gehen = ihr geht = Geht! / You all go!
geben = ihr gebt = Gebt! / You all give!
schlafen = ihr schlaft = Schlaft! / You all Sleep!
helfen (to help) Helft!
versprechen (to promise) Verspecht!
halten (to stop) Haltet!
schauen (to look) Schaut!
To make the ‘Sie” form, simply take the ‘Sie’ form of the verb.
You must add the subject, Sie. Add an exclamation mark!
This is the formal You command.
trinken = Sie trinken = Trinken Sie! / You drink!
geben = Sie geben = Geben Sie! / You give!
schlafen = Sie schlafen = Schlafen Sie! / You sleep!
arbeiten (to work) Arbeiten Sie!
bauen (to build) Bauen Sie!
sagen (to say) Sagen Sie!
versuchen (to try) Versuchen Sie!
There is also a "wir" form of the imperative which equates
to "Let's do something" rather than being an order. Simply
take the ‘Wir’ form of the verb. You must add the subject,
Wir. Then, add an exclamation mark!
trinken = Wir trinken = Trinken wir! / Let’s drink!
geben = Wir geben = Geben wir! / Let’s give!
schlafen = Wir schlafen = Schlafen wir! / Let’s sleep!
gehen (to go) Gehen wir!
fahren (to drive) Fahren wir!
fliegen (to fly) Fliegen wir!
spazieren (to walk) Spazieren wir!