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L'impératif
The imperative is used to give commands/orders or suggestions.
The imperative is a command and a very direct way to give an order:
To be more polite, you'll use it together with please, OR use the conditional instead.
There are three forms of the imperative/command: tu, nous, and vous.
There are three forms of the imperative/command: tu, nous, and vous.
The tu form: an order to a friend, a child, a pet, a family member, or someone your own age.
The vous form: an order to a group of people or to one person you don’t know and are on formal terms with (an email to your teacher, a cashier at Jewel, your advisor…)
The nous form: an order that involves oneself as well as others. Partons! (Let’s leave); Prenons le El (Let’s take the El!)!
For vous and nous, just drop the subject.
For tu, drop the -s for -er verbs (regular and irregular), and verbs ending in -frir, and -vrir.
For all other verbs, keep the s.
Irregular imperatives:
Irregular imperatives:
There are only three verbs that have irregular imperative forms: avoir, être, savoir. Easy!
Imperative of pronominal verbs
Imperative of pronominal verbs
In the affirmative, the pronoun comes after the verb.
In the negative, the pronoun comes before the verb.
With pronominal verbs, toi is used in the affirmative.
Te is used in the negative only.
Negative commands
Negative commands
In negative commands (an order not to do something), place the ne ... pas around the verb:
In negative commands for pronominal verbs, the pronoun (te, vous, nous) is placed directly in front of the verb.
Order of object pronouns with the imperative
Order of object pronouns with the imperative
In the affirmative, object pronouns follow the verb.
Here’s the order: direct object (le, la, les) before indirect object (lui, leur) before y, before en.
Use moi and toi (instead of me and te) in the affirmative if they are in the final position of the command.
In the negative of the imperative, object pronouns (le, la, les, lui, leur, y, en) come before the verb.
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