Spanish Commands: A complete lesson on the Spanish imperative mood

The imperative in Spanish is used to give suggestions, commands, or orders directly. If you ever visit a Spanish-speaking country, you’ll notice the imperative being used as soon as you arrive. Here are some of the first Spanish commands you’re likely to hear:

• ¡Alto! – Stop!
• Empuje – Push
• ¡No corra! – Do not run!
• ¡No fume! – Do not smoke!
• No estacione aquí – Do not park here

In addition to direct commands, the Spanish imperative can also be used to extend an invitation, give permission, or make an apology:

• ¡Ven a mi casa! – Come to my house!
• ¡Entra! – Come in!
• ¡Perdóname! – Forgive me!

Although it’s common to refer to the Spanish imperative tense, it’s technically the imperative mood rather than a tense, in the same category as the indicative mood or the subjunctive mood. A mood indicates the speaker’s thoughts, intentions, or attitude behind an action, in contrast to the timeframe of a tense like past, present, or future. Nonetheless, it’s understandable to think of the imperative as the Spanish command tense, since it always refers to the exact moment in which it is used.

We have several other posts that touch on specific aspects of the Spanish imperative, including informal tú commands, nosotros commands, useful commands for teachers and babysitters, and even a fun post of Spanish dog commands.

Today’s post has been thoroughly updated, covering the topic in way more detail than any other resources you’ll find online. It’s a comprehensive lesson on everything you need to know about how to form commands in Spanish, from every angle.

We’ll start with a list of the basic rules that govern imperative Spanish, providing a quick overview of the various sections we’ll see next. Then we’ll look at each aspect in detail: What is the imperative in Spanish, how to conjugate commands in Spanish, how to use object pronouns with Spanish commands, and what are alternatives to the imperative conjugations.

The imperative mood is known as el imperativo in Spanish, so let’s dive in and learn all about imperativo Spanish!

Spanish commands: The basic rules

We can give commands in Spanish to other people in singular, plural, informal, and formal, and also to a group that includes ourselves. This means that for our imperative conjugation, Spanish uses five of the six grammatical persons. What’s more, there are two different conjugations for tú and vosotros, depending on whether we’re giving affirmative or negative commands.

With seven different sets of conjugations, learning imperative Spanish may seem overwhelming at first glance. But don’t worry, it’s actually relatively simple! The rules are straightforward, with very few exceptions.

Everything you need to know about imperative form Spanish can essentially be summed up in the following set of basic rules. We elaborate on all of these in full detail in their respective sections below, so scroll down to learn how to conjugate commands in Spanish, for example, or how to use Spanish commands with object pronouns.

To begin with, here are all the essentials you need to know about the Spanish imperative mood:

Subject pronouns with Spanish commands

• The imperative can only be used by the speaker when addressing someone else directly, whether in singular (tú, usted), in plural (vosotros, vosotras, ustedes), or while also including themself (nosotros, nosotras).
• The speaker cannot use the imperative solely on themself (yo), nor on people who aren’t present (él, ella, ellos, ellas).
• The pronouns aren’t generally included when using the imperative.

Affirmative commands vs Negative commands:

• Depending on whether the speaker is giving affirmative (do it!) or negative (don’t do it!) commands, there are two different imperative conjugations when giving orders to tú or vosotros/vosotras.
• The other subjects take the same conjugations for both affirmative and negative commands.

How to conjugate commands in Spanish

• The negative imperative conjugations for tú and vosotros/vosotras, as well as the conjugations for all the other pronouns, are identical to the present subjunctive conjugations for their respective subjects. Most of these are very similar to the present indicative conjugations, with just one vowel switched.
• The affirmative imperative tú conjugations are identical to the third-person (él, ella) present indicative conjugations. There are only 8 Spanish imperative irregulars with tú that need to be learned outright: ven, di, sal, haz, ten, ve, pon, sé.
• The affirmative imperative vosotros/vosotras conjugations are formed by dropping the -r at the end of the infinitive and replacing it with a -d.

Imperative Spanish conjugation with object pronouns and reflexive pronouns

• When making affirmative Spanish commands, reflexive, direct object, and indirect object pronouns are added directly to the end of the conjugated verb. In this case, an accent mark is often added to the original verb to maintain its pronunciation.
• When we add se or nos to affirmative nosotros commands, we first need to drop the final -s of the original imperative conjugation.
• When we add the reflexive pronoun os to affirmative vosotros commands, we first need to drop the -d.
• When making negative Spanish commands, the object and reflexive pronouns are simply placed between no and the conjugated verb.

Other ways to give orders in Spanish

• In addition to the imperative conjugations we’re focusing on in this post, other sentence structures can also be used to tell or ask someone to do something. These include asking them if they can do something with poder, using the conditional to ask if they could do something, or using the infinitive to give non-targeted instructions. Saying please always helps, too!

Subject pronouns with Spanish commands

Now that we’ve seen the broad overview of el infinitivo, it’s time to cover each aspect in greater detail. Let’s start with which pronouns are used with the imperative, and how we use them when giving commands in Spanish. Once we’re clear on these rules, we’ll move on to how to conjugate commands in Spanish.

To whom can we address Spanish commands?

We can give commands in Spanish to someone we’re talking to, whether in singular (tú, usted) or plural (vosotros, vosotras, ustedes). The speaker can also use the imperative on a group that includes themself (nosotros, nosotras), which has an English equivalent of let’s….

The most common command form in Spanish is directed at tú, the second-person singular you. It’s also common enough to direct commands at people who are normally addressed using the formal singular you form of usted, as well as its plural you counterpart ustedes, although these are treated as third-person pronouns in Spanish grammar. Giving commands to vosotros and vosotras using the second-person informal plural you is only really practiced in Spain.

You can’t give orders to yourself, nor to someone who isn’t present, so there’s no Spanish command form for the first-person singular yo, nor the third-person él, ella, ellos, or ellas.

Here’s a simple Spanish imperative chart of possible recipients:

command tense Spanish	singular	plural
first-person	yo	nosotros, nosotras
second-person	tú	vosotros, vosotras
third-person	usted, él, ella	ustedes, ellos, ellas

If you’re not already familiar with these, please refer to our beginner posts on Spanish subject pronouns, as well as our post explaining how to choose the right Spanish you between tú, usted, vosotros, and ustedes.

Do we use pronouns in the Spanish imperative?

Just like in English, the subject isn’t generally stated when using the Spanish imperative. We just give the command, and the person or people we’re speaking to usually understand that we’re addressing them.

• Llama a tu madre. – Call your mother.
• ¡Comamos! – Let’s eat!
• Dejen sus bicis fuera. – Leave your bikes outside.

Since many of the Spanish imperative conjugations sound the same as other tenses, we can nonetheless include the pronoun for clarity so it’s clear that we’re using the imperative. In this case, we place the subject pronoun directly after the conjugated verb.

• Lee tú el artículo. – Read the article.
• Firme usted aquí, señor. – Sign here, sir.

This structure also has the function of really emphasizing who the speaker wants the action to be done by.

• Saca tú la basura esta vez. – You take out the trash this time.
• ¡Salta tú primero! – You jump first!

Finally, if we want to address a command at someone specific, we can include their names before the command, followed by a comma.

• Adriana, ¡limpia tu habitación! – Adriana, clean your room!
• Vale Marco, vaciemos la camioneta. – Alright Marco, let’s empty the truck.

Imperative Spanish conjugation

Now that we’ve seen the different pronouns that can be used with the Spanish imperative, it’s time to learn how to conjugate commands in Spanish for each grammatical person.

The good news is that, most of the time, Spanish imperative conjugations simply use the conjugations of the present subjunctive tense for each pronoun. This aligns with a fundamental concept of the subjunctive mood vs the indicative mood: it’s used to express things as theoretical rather than fact. If we’re telling someone to do something with the imperative, it’s still theoretical whether or not they’ll actually do it!

The difference we need to be aware of comes when making affirmative vs negative commands in the informal second person, whether in singular to tú or in plural to vosotros/vosotras. Negative commands use the present subjunctive conjugations in both cases, but their affirmative commands follow different rules.

The affirmative second-person singular tú conjugation in Spanish imperative is identical to the third-person singular present indicative conjugation. This means that if you know how to conjugate a verb for él and ella in the present tense, you know its imperative tú conjugation. There are only eight Spanish imperative irregulars that don’t follow this rule, which we’ll cover below.

The affirmative second-person plural vosotros/vosotras conjugation in Spanish is even easier, since it just involves replacing the final -r of the verb’s infinitive with a -d. This imperative conjugation is rarely used outside of Spain, however, since Latin Americans use ustedes when addressing people in plural.

Let’s wrap up this intro section on conjugation rules with a quick Spanish imperative chart to show which conjugations are used when. We include all of the Spanish subject pronouns for reference, even though several can’t take commands:

Imperative conjugations by grammatical person	Affirmative command conjugation	Negative command conjugation
First-person singular: yo	–	–
Second-person singular: tú	third-person singular (él/ella) of present indicative	present subjunctive
Third-person singular: usted	present subjunctive	present subjunctive
Third-person singular: él, ella	–	–
First-person plural: nosotros, nosotras	present subjunctive	present subjunctive
Second-person plural: vosotros, vosotras	replace the final -r of the infinitive with -d	present subjunctive
Third-person plural: ustedes	present subjunctive	present subjunctive
Third-person plural: ellos, ellas	–	–

Now we’re ready to take a look at each of these imperative conjugation rules in more detail in the following subsections. We’ll start off with an overview of the present subjunctive conjugations since they’re used with all five grammatical persons in the imperative. Then we’ll see the affirmative tú commands since they’re the most common, including the eight Spanish imperative irregulars: ven, di, sal, haz, ten, ve, pon, sé. We’ll finish with the affirmative vosotros conjugations, which are both the easiest and the least common.

Imperative Spanish conjugation using the present subjunctive

If you know how to conjugate Spanish verbs in the present subjunctive tense, then you already know how to conjugate them in most imperative forms. In fact, even if you only know the present tense, you can get the subjunctive conjugation for most verbs by simply switching one vowel in the ending.

So how do you conjugate commands in Spanish? Let’s look at each group of regular verbs to compare their present indicative and present subjunctive conjugations. Based on the grammatical person and whether it’s an affirmative or a negative command, the table above will tell you if the following present subjunctive conjugations can be used when you make your command.

Let’s start with regular -ar verbs. We’ll use compar as our sample verb, meaning to buy. We’ve bolded the final vowel in the -ar verb conjugations, which becomes -e- in the present subjunctive.

	present indicative	present subjunctive
yo	compro	compre
tú	compras	compres
él, ella, usted	compra	compre
nosotros, nosotras	compramos	compremos
vosotros, vosotras	compráis	compréis
ellos, ellas, ustedes	compran	compren

For regular -er verbs, we change the vowel to -a- in the present subjunctive endings. We’ll show this with comer, which means to eat.

	present indicative	present subjunctive
yo	como	coma
tú	comes	comas
él, ella, usted	come	coma
nosotros, nosotras	comemos	comamos
vosotros, vosotras	coméis	comáis
ellos, ellas, ustedes	comen	coman

Regular -ir verbs take exactly the same present subjunctive endings as regular -er verbs, with the final vowel being -a-. We’ll use vivir as our example verb, meaning to live.

	present indicative	present subjunctive
yo	vivo	viva
tú	vives	vivas
él, ella, usted	vive	viva
nosotros, nosotras	vivimos	vivamos
vosotros, vosotras	vivís	viváis
ellos, ellas, ustedes	viven	vivan

What we’ve just seen is a quick primer on regular verb conjugation in the present indicative and the present subjunctive, for all six grammatical persons. To sum up how this applies to the Spanish command form, here’s a summary table of imperative endings for all the relevant pronouns. We’ve highlighted the vowels here too, since many teachers like to say that it’s just a matter of using the “opposite” vowel than is used in the present indicative.

	–ar verbs	–er verbs	–ir verbs
tú (negative only)	–es	–as	–as
usted	–e	–a	–a
nosotros, nosotras	–emos	–amos	–amos
vosotros, vosotras (negative only)	–éis	–áis	–áis
ustedes	–en	–an	–an

Let’s wrap up this section on how to conjugate commands in Spanish with some simple example sentences. We use each of the pronouns in order, in both affirmative and negative commands. The imperative endings are highlighted.

• No trabajes tanto. – Don’t work so much.
• Escriba su nombre. – Write your name.
• No hable tan rápido, por favor. – Don’t speak so fast, please.
• Tomemos un café. – Let’s have a coffee.
• No caminemos tan lejos. – Let’s not walk so far.
• ¡No habléis durante el examen! – Don’t talk during the exam!
• ¡Trabajen rápido! – Work quickly!
• No escuchen música con tanto volumen. – Don’t listen to music so loud.

Affirmative tú conjugation

The most common Spanish command form is when we give orders to people we’re familiar with enough to address as tú. We use tú commands to address kids or family members, or to ask our friends or family to do things. This form is also common among peers in social situations, including between peers at school or at work. (If you’re not yet clear on the informal vs formal you in Spanish, please start with our beginner post on tú vs usted.)

For all these reasons, this set of conjugations is what many lessons focus on when teaching Spanish commands. Today’s post includes a lot more in order to offer our readers a comprehensive lesson on the Spanish imperative, but if you’re just looking to learn the basics right now then you should study this section first. We also have a dedicated post that covers these informal commands in Spanish, including both the affirmative and the negative forms.

So how do we conjugate affirmative commands in Spanish when we’re addressing tú? We just use the verb’s third-person singular conjugation from the present indicative tense! That’s right, if you know your present tense conjugations, just use the él/ella conjugation and you have the imperative conjugation!

We presented full present indicative conjugation tables for regular verbs in the last section, so we’ve already seen all of the él/ella/usted forms. To sum up the endings for regular verbs, here’s our table showing how the present indicative conjugations for él/ella/usted are used as the affirmative command conjugations for tú:

Regular verb groups: endings	él/ella/usted present indicative conjugation	tú affirmative imperative conjugation
-ar verbs: -a	compra	compra
-er verbs: -e	come	come
-ir verbs: -e	vive	vive

Let’s see some examples of these in use:

• Compra algo para cenar. – Buy something for dinner.
• Come tus vegetales. – Eat your greens.
• Vive con alegría. – Live with joy.

Now that we’re clear on these Spanish command conjugations for regular verbs, what about irregular verbs? We have good news! This rule of simply using the él/ella/usted conjugation from the present indicative tense applies to almost all Spanish verbs! This means that once you know the present tense conjugation of an irregular verb, you can just use it in exactly the same form to make affirmative tú commands.

We’re not going to list all the possibilities here, since the focus of this post is on the imperative mood rather than on irregular verbs. For more detail on these, check out our post that outlines the five types of stem-changing verbs in Spanish, as well as our overview post on the simple present tense. Let’s just wrap this up with a few examples using common irregular verbs:

• ¡Recuerda cerrar las ventanas! – Remember to close the windows!
• ¡Duerma en el avión! – Sleep on the plane!
• ¡Juega limpio! – Play fair!

Spanish imperative irregulars

The affirmative tú command conjugations have been easy enough so far, since we’re really just recycling the conjugation from a tense most learners master first. We also just said that even irregular verbs follow the same rule, but of course there are a few exceptions!

Fortunately, there are only eight truly irregular imperative conjugations in Spanish that need to be learned outright, and they’re all fairly common verbs. Here’s the full list. Most of these verbs are so important that we have dedicated posts on them!

Spanish infinitive	Affirmative tú command	English command
venir	¡ven!	come!
decir	¡di!	say!, tell!
salir	¡sal!	go out!
hacer	¡haz!	do!
tener	¡ten!	have!, hold!
ir	¡ve!	go!
poner	¡pon!	put!
ser	!sé!	be!

So how can you remember these imperative irregulars? A lot of our students memorize a fun mnemonic device about a tough Hollywood actor! Compare these two and then see how well you can recall the eight irregular imperative conjugations:

• Vin Diesel has ten weapons, eh
• ven  di  sal  haz  ten  ve  pon  sé

Now let’s see some examples using each of these irregular conjugations:

• Ven a visitarnos un día de estos. – Come over and visit us one of these days.
• Solo di la verdad. – Just tell the truth.
• Sal por ahí, la puerta está abierta. – Go out over there, the door is open.
• Haz lo que quieras. – Do what you want.
• Ten algo de paciencia. – Have some patience.
• Ve a buscar lo que necesitas. – Go get what you need.
• Pon eso por acá. – Put that over here.
• Siempre sé una buena persona. – Always be a good person.

Do any of these words seem familiar already? Several indeed have homographs, which are words that share the same spelling but have different meanings. Sal is also a noun, for example, meaning salt. Fortunately, a sentence’s context is usually enough to understand when someone is talking about salt vs telling you to leave!

• La sal está ahí. – The salt is there.

Ve is a common present tense conjugation of the verb ver, meaning to see or to watch. In this case, the direct object of ver is enough to differentiate it from the command form of ir.

• Mi hermana ve lo que necesita. – My sister sees what she needs.
• El gato ve los pájaros desde la ventana. – The cat sees the birds from the window.

Sé is a common conjugation of the Spanish verb saber, meaning to know, where yo sé is the indicative present tense conjugation meaning I know. This isn’t generally an issue, since it’s usually clear when we’re giving an order vs commenting about some knowledge we have.

• Yo sé cómo cambiar una llanta. – I know how to change a tire.

For clarification, it’s common to precede these commands with tú, followed by a comma, in contrast to the norm we saw earlier where the Spanish command is followed by its pronoun.

• Tú, ve a perseguir a los pájaros. – Go chase the birds.
• Tú, sé paciente por favor. – Please be patient.
• Tú, sé amable si puedes. – Be nice if you can.
• Tú, sé firme en tu decisión. – Be firm in your decision.

Finally, be sure to always include the accent mark on sé, since the unaccented se has several other very different meanings. We cover all of these in our post on se vs sé in Spanish, while also including them in our post on Spanish homonyms.

Affirmative vosotros conjugation

If you’ve learned all the imperative conjugations we’ve seen so far, you’re all set to use every Spanish command tense in Latin America. Vosotros and vosotras are the second-person plural counterparts of tú, and are only used in Spain. For Latin American Spanish, just stick with ustedes when addressing people in plural.

If you’re speaking Castellano though, forming the affirmative imperative conjugation for vosotros and vosotras is fortunately very easy. We just drop the final -r from the infinitive, and replace it with a -d. That’s it! This applies to all verbs, with no exceptions.

Here are some examples with the same regular verbs we saw above:

Spanish verb groups	Regular infinitive	vosotros affirmative imperative conjugation
-ar verbs	comprar	comprad
-er verbs	comer	comed
-ir verbs	vivir	vivid

Now let’s see a bunch of example sentences to demonstrate that there are no exceptions to the rule. We’ll start with the regular and irregular verbs we’ve seen so far:

• Comprad solo lo necesario. – Buy only what’s necessary.
• Comed más verduras. – Eat more vegetables.
• Vivid con alegría. – Live with joy.
• Recordad que mañana hay examen. – Remember that there’s a test tomorrow.
• Jugad con los otros niños. – Play with the other kids.
• Dormid bien esta noche. – Sleep well tonight.

Now let’s see how the eight irregular Spanish imperative verbs we saw with tú commands still form entirely regular vosotros commands. Remember ven di sal haz ten ve pon sé? Take a look at how these otherwise irregular imperative verbs (venir, decir, salir, hacer, tener, ir, poner, ser) follow the regular vosotros rules in these command conjugations:

• Venid a clase a las ocho. – Come to class at eight.
• Decid lo que pensáis. – Say what you think.
• Salid al patio durante el recreo. – Go out to the playground during recess.
• Haced el esfuerzo. – Make the effort.
• Tened una idea clara antes de comenzar. – Have a clear idea before starting.
• Id a casa después del partido. – Go home after the game.
• Poned vuestras mochilas en el suelo. – Put your backpacks on the floor.
• Sed amables con vuestros compañeros. – Be kind to your classmates.

To sum up our vosotros/vosotras rules with affirmative command conjugations, they’re all very straightforward since they just involve switching out the infinitive’s final -r with a -d. There’s an exception to this when we add the reflexive pronoun os, however, which we cover in its own section below.

Imperative Spanish conjugation with object pronouns and reflexive pronouns

A couple of standard rules apply when our Spanish commands include other categories of pronouns. In short, they’re added to the end of the conjugated verb in affirmative commands, while in negative commands they’re placed directly before the conjugated verb. We’ll look at each of these in turn below.

There are a couple of exceptions with certain affirmative nosotros and vosotros commands, so we’ll see each of them individually as well.

Before we move on, let’s just start with a refresher on all four categories of personal pronouns for easy reference. Click the column headings for full lessons on each one:

Subject pronouns	Reflexive pronouns	Direct object pronouns	Indirect object pronouns
yo	me	me	me
tú	te	te	te
él ella usted	se se se	lo la lo, la	le, se* le, se* le, se*
nosotros nosotras	nos nos	nos nos	nos nos
vosotros vosotras	os os	os os	os os
ellos ellas ustedes	se se se	los las los, las	les, se* les, se* les, se*

*The third-person indirect object pronouns only become se when used alongside third-person direct object pronouns.

Negative commands with object pronouns and reflexive pronouns

We’ll start with negative commands since they’re the easiest. We just place our other pronouns between the negation word no and the conjugated command. When we use both object pronouns together, the indirect object pronoun comes first, followed by the direct object pronoun.

Let’s see this using a variety of object pronouns:

• No lo compres todavía. – Don’t buy it yet.
• Si mi jefe pide ver tu contrato, no se lo muestres. – If my boss asks to see your contract, don’t show it to him.
• No le digamos nuestro secreto. – Let’s not tell her our secret.
• No se lo contéis a nadie. – Don’t tell it to anyone.
• Aquí están los libros para sus estudiantes, pero no se los entregues hasta mañana. – Here are the books for your students, but do not give them to them until tomorrow.

Now let’s see the same thing with reflexive pronouns:

• Tu blusa es muy bonita. No te la cambies. – Your blouse is really pretty. Don’t change it.
• No se siente aquí, por favor. – Do not sit here, please.
• No nos levantemos antes de las seis. – Let’s not get up before six.
• No os miréis el uno al otro. – Don’t look at each other.
• No se vayan tan pronto. – Don’t leave so soon.

Affirmative commands with object pronouns and reflexive pronouns

If you’re already familiar with sentence structure when using direct object pronouns or indirect object pronouns with infinitives or gerunds, the same rule applies to affirmative commands: the object pronoun is attached directly to the end of the conjugated command. Where we use both object pronouns together, the indirect object pronoun comes first, followed by the direct object pronoun.

In many cases, an additional accent is placed on the verb to maintain the same emphasis in pronunciation. This is an advanced topic that we explain in our post on Spanish syllabification rules.

Let’s see this in action with object pronouns.

• Déjame pagar. – Let me pay.
• Díganos su nombre. – Tell us your name.
• Reservémosla para mañana. – Let’s reserve it for tomorrow.
• El examen es difícil. Léedlo con atención, niños. – The exam is difficult. Read it carefully, kids.
• Su profesora espera sus exámenes. Entrégenselos cuando terminen. – Your professor is waiting for your exams. Hand them in to her when you finish.

Now let’s do the same with reflexive pronouns:

• Lávate las manos. – Wash your hands.
• Mirése al espejo. – Look at yourself in the mirror.
• Sirvanse el postre. – Serve yourselves dessert.

Did you notice that we didn’t provide examples with reflexive pronouns when addressing nosotros or vosotros? These have additional rules we’ll see in the next sections.

Adding Se or Nos to nosotros commands

We just saw how to add object pronouns and reflexive pronouns directly to the end of our affirmative command conjugations. This structure remains the same across all the combinations, but a couple of combinations require a slight spelling change to help in pronunciation.

Since our affirmative nosotros commands always end in -emos or -amos, the pronunciation would sound awkward if we added -se or -nos on the end. In the case of nos, this is the reflexive pronoun that matches nosotros. In the case of se, this will only occur as an indirect object pronoun when used alongside a direct object pronoun.

To smooth the pronunciation when we add se or nos to our nosotros commands, we first drop the final -s of the imperative conjugation before adding the pronouns.

Let’s see this spelling change in action. Let’s start with a few examples where we add double third-person object pronouns to our nosotros command:

• Nuestra hija olvidó su pasaporte. Enviémoselo. – Our daughter forgot her passport. Let’s send it to her.
• Ana está en estas fotos. Mostrémoselas. – Ana is in these photos. Let’s show them to her.
• Martín está pidiendo esa gorra. Comprémosela. – Martin is asking for that cap. Let’s buy it for him.

Now let’s see some examples where we use the reflexive pronoun nos in commands where the speaker suggests “let’s do something to ourselves.”

• Ducharémonos antes de salir. – Let’s shower before leaving.
• Sentémonos cerca del escenario. – Let’s sit near the stage.
• Preparémonos para la presentación. – Let’s get ready for the presentation.

You may be thinking that os would also sound awkward if it were attached directly to -emos or -amos, and you’re right. This combination isn’t grammatically possible, however, so we don’t need to worry about it!

Adding the reflexive Os to vosotros commands

The last spelling change we need to cover is for reflexive vosotros commands. When we use reflexive verbs in the imperative with vosotros, we’re telling a group of people to do something to themselves. In this case we drop the final -d of the original command conjugation, and add the reflexive pronoun -os in its place.

• Lavaos las manos. – Wash your hands.
• Poneos los zapatos. – Put on your shoes.
• Vestíos rápido. – Get dressed quickly.

This rule only applies to the reflexive pronoun os. When our vosotros commands take direct or indirect object pronouns, we keep the final -d and just attach the pronouns as we saw above.

• Vuestras bicicletas están sucias. Lávadlas. – Your bikes are dirty. Wash them.
• No dejéis vuestros zapatos en el suelo. Ponedlos en el estante. – Don’t leave your shoes on the floor. Put them on the shelf.
• Vuestra abuela quiere ver vuestras muñecas, niñas. Véstidlas primero. – Your grandmother wants to see your dolls, girls. Dress them first.

There’s just one exception to this rule of dropping the -d with reflexive vosotros commands. The verb ir means to go, so its regular vosotros command conjugation is id. When we use its reflexive form irse, meaning to leave or to get going, we keep the -d on the regular command conjugation. If we tell a group to get going, we say idos.

• Ahí viene vuestro autobús, muchachos. ¡Idos! – Your bus is coming, guys. Get going!

Alternative ways to give commands in Spanish

So far in today’s post, our focus has been entirely on how to give commands in Spanish using the standard imperative conjugations. But how else can we tell people what to do without giving direct orders?

Why don’t we finish up today’s lesson by looking at a few other ways to ask or tell people to do things? One classic method is to frame our request as a question, whether using the indicative like “can you…?” or the conditional like “could you…?” With “let’s…” requests, it’s just as common to use “vamos a…” or simply “a…” with an infinitive. And when instructions are being given in general, without a specific recipient, it’s common to simply use the infinitive. Finally, it always helps to just add “por favor” to any Spanish command, so let’s start with these, please.

Add please

This should go without saying, but we’ll include it here anyway. Adding a simple “please” will make your Spanish commands sound that much more polite. We included “por favor” in some of our examples throughout the rest of the post, but let’s make a point of comparing these two Spanish imperative options here.

• Imperative with please: Por favor, ten algo de paciencia. – Please, have some patience.
• Imperative: Ten algo de paciencia. – Have some patience.

• Imperative with please: ¡Por favor, no digas nada! – Please, don’t say anything!
• Imperative: ¡No digas nada! – Don’t say anything!

• Imperative with please: Por favor, compra algo para cenar. – Please, buy something for dinner.
• Imperative: Compra algo para cenar. – Buy something for dinner.

Questions with Poder in present indicative

Can you guess the next option? Asking a question with poder in the present indicative tense is a common option in Spanish, just like starting a question with “can you…” in English. A good translation of poder is to be able to, so our present tense poder conjugation can translate as are you able to or can you.

Let’s see how these “can you” options compare with the equivalent imperatives in Spanish:

• Indicative: ¿Puedes dejarme pagar? – Can you let me pay?
• Imperative: Déjame pagar. – Let me pay.

• Indicative: ¿Puede vigilar mis cosas por un minuto? – Are you able to watch my things for a minute?
• Imperative: Vigile mis cosas por un minuto. – Watch my things for a minute.

• Indicative: ¿Podemos tomar un café? – Can we have a coffee?
• Imperative: Tomemos un café. – Let’s have a coffee.

Questions with Poder in conditional

Could you try something more polite? Asking a question with poder in the present conditional tense is even more polite than using the present tense, just like in English when you start a request with “could you…”

Let’s see how this use compares with imperative commands in Spanish:

• Conditional: ¿Podrías hacer el esfuerzo? – Could you make the effort?
• Imperative: Haz el esfuerzo. – Make the effort.

• Conditional: ¿Podríamos comer algo? – Could we eat something?
• Imperative: Comamos algo. – Let’s eat something.

• Conditional: ¿Podrían hablar de sus planes? – Could you talk about your plans?
• Imperative: Hablen sobre sus planes. – Talk about your plans.

Other informal nosotros commands

We saw earlier how our Spanish imperative conjugation with nosotros translates into English with “let’s…” This same idea is expressed more frequently with a much simpler structure, to the point that many Spanish speakers rarely even bother with imperative nosotros commands to say “let’s…”

The easier alternative is to start a sentence with “Vamos a…,” and then just add the infinitive of the action verb. Vamos is the present tense nosotros conjugation of the verb ir, meaning to go in Spanish.

You may be familiar with using ir a with an infinitive to talk about the near future like “to be going to…” For example, “voy a leer mi libro” means “I’m going to read my book,” while “¿Vas a llamar a Alice?” means “Are you going to call Alice?”

The same meaning can apply when we use “vamos a…” to someone else, but there’s a suggestive element when the speaker addresses it to the other people in their group. If you and your brother tell your mom “vamos a andar en bicicleta,” you’re letting her know that “we are going to ride our bikes.” If you say the exact same thing to your brother, you’re suggesting to him that “let’s ride our bikes!”

Let’s compare these forms, keeping in mind that the speaker needs to be addressing the group for it to come off as a suggestion rather than a statement.

• Vamos a andar en bicicleta. – Let’s ride our bikes.
• Andemos en bicicleta. – Let’s ride our bikes.

• Vamos a pasear al perro. – Let’s walk the dog.
• Paseemos al perro. – Let’s walk the dog.

• ¿No tienes hambre? ¡Vamos a comer! – Aren’t you hungry? Let’s eat!
• ¿No tienes hambre? ¡Comamos! – Aren’t you hungry? Let’s eat!

This “vamos a…” form is pretty simple, but there’s an even simpler way that some people say “let’s…” in Spanish. All we need to do is precede the infinitive with “a!” This form is a pretty curt though, and isn’t really used in longer sentences.

• ¡A andar! – Let’s ride!
• ¡A comer! – Let’s eat!
• ¡A beber! – Let’s drink!

Formal orders with infinitives

We started off today’s post with a few common Spanish commands that you might encounter on your first day in a Latin American country.

When it comes to signage though, or other formal written instructions like a baking recipe or assembly instructions for your new furniture, it’s common for such Spanish commands to be expressed with infinitives rather than with imperative conjugations.

This use is primarily for giving general instructions that aren’t directed at anyone in particular.

• No fumar. – No smoking.
• Atornillar los estantes y luego conectar los tirantes transversales. – Screw the shelves together and then connect the cross braces.
• Batir los huevos, mezclarlos con las verduras y hornear la tarta durante 30 minutos. – Beat the eggs, mix them with the vegetables, and bake the tart for 30 minutes.

Since the use of infinitives to give commands in Spanish is usually very impersonal, it’s sometimes utilized emphatically to make a point. When your mom or your teacher gives you orders with infinitives rather than imperative conjugations, you’d better listen up!

• ¡Acostarse! – Go to bed!
• ¡Callarse la boca! – Shut your mouth!
• ¡Salir! – Get out!

Conclusion: Spanish commands

Whew! Congratulations on reaching the end of today’s lesson on how to give commands in Spanish. We covered this topic from every single angle, providing a comprehensive reference with everything you need to know to master imperativo Spanish!

We broke things down into a handful of key sections and subsections, giving full explanations of every aspect of the imperative mood. We included all the exceptions for each rule, along with other things to look out for. As we do in all our posts, we provided a ton of example sentences in each section, as well as links to our related posts that cover related topics in greater detail.

We recommend sharing or bookmarking this post as your go-to reference for imperative form Spanish, since every aspect of the topic is explained here in full detail. For now though, let’s just conclude with a quick list of the key takeaways.

Essential rules for commands in Spanish

• Imperative Spanish is used with five of the six grammatical persons: tú, usted, nosotros/nosotras, vosotros/vosotras, and ustedes.

• There are different conjugations when giving affirmative vs negative commands to tú and to vosotros/vosotras.

• The affirmative tú conjugation is identical to the él/ella conjugation in present indicative. There are only 8 irregular tú forms: ven, di, sal, haz, ten, vé, pon, sé.

• The affirmative vosotros/vosotras conjugation drops the -r from the infinitive and replaces it with a -d.

• All the other grammatical persons, as well as the negative commands of tú and vosotros, use the same conjugations as the present subjunctive.

• Object pronouns and reflexive pronouns are attached to the end of affirmative commands, with a few small spelling changes for nosotros and vosotros commands.

• Object and reflexive pronouns go between no and the conjugated verb in negative commands.

• Other options than the imperative exist for giving orders, such as asking a question using puedes… or podrías…, or using the infinitive for non-targeted commands.