 Ten-Hut!
 In
this presentation,
you will learn about
making commands in
Spanish.
… are pretty easy. You
just use a base verb
form (without a
subject, since it’s
always “you”) to tell
people what they
should do:





Stand up!
Sit down!
Do your homework!
Take out the garbage!
Be quiet!
… and what they
shouldn’t do:



Don’t write in your
books!
Don’t speak English in
Spanish class!
Don’t be silly!
… are little more complicated
because we have so many
ways of saying “you”:





Tú: informal, singular
Vosotros: informal, plural
Ud.: formal, singular
Uds.: formal, plural
However, we will concentrate
on the formal commands
only.
Hable despacio, por favor.
 ¡Repita, por favor.!
 Siéntese Ud. aquí.
 Entreguen Uds. la tarea.
 Hagan el ejercicio B.
 No hagan el ejercicio A.
 ¡No se levante Ud.!
 ¡No corran en la clase!

The speaker is talking to one
person.
 Can you figure out how we got the
form “hable”?
 Take the “yo” form of the present:
HABLO
 Drop the –o: HABL “Hablar” is an –AR verb, so add –E
to form the command: HABLE

The speaker is talking to one
person.
 Can you figure out how we got
the form “repita”?
 Take the “yo” form of the
present: REPITO
 Drop the –o: REPIT “Repetir” is an –IR verb, so add –
A to form the command: REPITA

 Think
of the verb adding
the “opposite vowel”:
 AR verbs add an –E.
 ER & IR verbs add an –A.
Comer: ¡______ Ud.!
 ¡Coma Ud.!
 Escribir: ¡_____ Ud.!
 ¡Escriba Ud.!
 Tomar: ¡_____ Ud.!
 ¡Tome Ud.!
 Entregar: ¡_____ la tarea!



¡Entregue la tarea!
Note the spelling change because
of the final –g sound.
 Entreguen
Uds. la tarea.
 Right! Just add an –N to
the command form when
you are talking to more
than one person.
Comer: ¡______ Uds.!
 ¡Coman Uds.!
 Escribir: ¡_____ Uds.!
 ¡Escriban Uds.!
 Tomar: ¡_____ Uds.!
 ¡Tomen Uds.!
 Comenzar: ¡_____ el examen!



¡Comiencen el examen!
Note the spelling change because
of the final –z.
 What
about reflexive
verbs?
 ¡Levántese! / ¡Siéntese!
 In affirmative commands,
all objects are attached
to the end of the verb.


Levante + se
Levanten + se
 How
do we make negative
commands in Spanish?
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

¡No fume!
¡No tome café!
¡No coma tanto!
 Right
– simply put the word
NO in front of the
command form.
 What
about reflexive verbs?
 ¡No se levante! ¡No se siente!
 In negative commands, all
objects precede the verb.




No
No
No
No
se
se
se
se
levante.
levanten.
siente.
sienten.

What would a lesson be
without a few irregulars to
make it interesting?? Can you
guess where these forms come
from?
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Haga la tarea.
Tenga paciencia.
Salga ahora.
Vuelva a casa.
Piense bien.
¡Sé bueno!
¡Esté tranquila!

Haga la tarea.


Tenga paciencia.


Volver > yo vuelvo > -o + -a
Piense bien.


Salir > yo salgo > - o + -a
Vuelva a casa.


Tener > yo tengo > -o + -a
Salga ahora.


Hacer > yo hago > -o + -a
Pensar > yo pienso > -o + -e
These verbs follow the same formula: start with the yo
form, drop the –o, and add the opposite vowel.

These five verbs are very
irregular for a good reason:
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
Ser > yo soy
Estar > yo estoy
Dar > yo doy
Saber > yo sé
Ir > yo voy
The yo form does not end in
an –o, so there is no –o to
drop when forming the
command form.