El imperativo en español
 Today we will learn how to use the imperative in
Spanish only in affirmative sentences.
 We will learn only the second person singular
( informal + formal Usted )
 We will see some of the irregular verbs in the
imperative
What are they ?
 The imperative or positive familiar Cammands (mandatos) are used
when you are telling (not just asking!) somebody to do something or
giving him an order.
 They’re expressed by means of the imperative mood. The Spanish
imperative exists for 5 different grammatical people: tú, Ud.,
nosotros, vosotros, and Uds. Most often we find the formal form
Ud. (You polite) Ud: ¡hable usted más despacio! por favor.(speak
slowly, please!). Tú: ¡espera a tu madre! (wait for your mother).
nosotros: ¡Hablemos de otras cosas! (Let’s talk about other things!).
vosotros (only in Spain): ¡dormid vosotros! (Go to sleep, you all!). Uds:
¡hablen ustedes más despacio! por favor. (you poeple) speak slowly,
please!)
 But we will only see the second person formal and informal
today
When do we use it?
 We use it mainly for :
• To tell people what to do
•
• To give permission
• To give directions
General rules
 Imperative mood only has one tense, the present
tense.
 Spanish verbs are always either regular or
irregular as it happens with English verbs.
 All Spanish verbs end either in "-ar", "-er" or "-ir
". These are the three Spanish conjugations.
 For the verbs ending in -ar:
 tú (You) -a
 usted (he, she, you formal)-e
For example hablar: Remove the -ar and keep hablthen add the endings
Tu- habl-a
Usted – habl-e
 For verbs in –er and –ir the endings are the other way out.
Easy!!!!
 Tu – e
 Usted – a
For example the verb correr. Remove the –er and add the ending
tu
Corr-e
Usted Corr-a
For verbs in –ir do the same. Verb escribir. Remover the –ir and add the
ending.
Tu
Escrib-e
Usted Escrib-a
Reminder !!!
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Look at the reminder, can you translate the commands into English?
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Commands
(Mandatos):
tú
usted
hablar: -a,-e,
¡Habla!
¡Hable!
comer: -e, -a,
¡Come!
¡Coma!
vivir:
¡Vive
¡Viva!
-e, -a,
So far so good?
 However there is a slight problem...
but I told you so....... We have some irregular verbs like in English
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Let’s aim for ten irregular ones, then
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Poner –pon, ponga (go to present 1st person and then do the changes)
Sacar- saca, saque
Tener- ten, tenga ( go to present 1st person )
Seguir- sigue, siga ( go to present 1st person )
Hacer- haz, haga
Salir- sal, salga ( go to present 1st person )
Volver- vuelve, vuelva
Empezar- empieza, empiece
Cerra- cierra- cierre.
Traer- trae- traiga.
Poor Cinderella!
 Everybody tells her what to do :
The nasty stepsisters
The horrible stepmother
The Godmother
Even the prince!!!
Use some of these verbs to make up some
sentences :
Limpiar, venir, cocinar, volver, bailar,....