Spanish Commands
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Carissa RoopnarineSpanish Commands
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Carissa RoopnarineSpanish: Commands
Formal Commands (Ud. and Uds.)
• Formal commands are used when talking in the Usted/Ustedes form of a verb. To
create formal affirmative and negative commands, use the third person form (él/ella/
Ud.) of the subjunctive. For –ar verbs, add –e (Ud.) or –en (Uds.). For –er/-ir verbs, add
–a (Ud.) or –an (Uds.)
o Venga Ud. mañana.
o No toquen Uds. eso porque está caliente.
• Remember that the verbs dar, ir, estar, ser, and saber are irregular in the subjunctive:
Dar dé Ud.
den Uds. Ser sea Ud.
sean Uds.
Estar esté Ud.
estén Uds. Saber sepa Ud.
sepan Uds
Ir vaya Ud.
vayan Uds.
• Attach reflexive and object pronouns to the end of the affirmative commands. When the
command alone is two or more syllables and you are using one or more object pronouns,
add an accent to keep the original stress on the verb:
o Hábleme Ud. / Háblenme Uds.
o Váyase Ud. / Váyanse Uds.
• With negative commands, place reflexive and object pronouns before conjugated verb:
o No me hable Ud. / No me hablen Uds.
o No se vaya Ud. / No se vayan Uds
Provided by the Academic Center for Excellence 1 Spanish: Commands
Updated February 2020
Familiar Commands (tú and vosotros)
Affirmative Tú Commands
• To form affirmative familiar commands, use the third person singular (el/la/Ud.) of the
present tense:
o Escribe el ensayo.
o Cierra la puerta.
• There are 8 irregular affirmative informal commands:
Decir Di Salir Sal
Hacer Haz Ser Sé
Ir Ve Tener Ten
Poner Pon Venir Ven
• Attach reflexive and object pronouns to the end of affirmative commands. For commands
that are more than one syllable without the pronouns, an accent is needed to maintain the
original stress on the word:
o Escríbelo (Lo refers to el ensayo).
o Ciérrala (La refers to la puerta).
o Vete. ((You) leave.)
o Hazlo. ((You) do it.)
Negative Tú Commands
• Negative familiar commands use the second person singular (tú) of the subjunctive tense:
o No cierres la puerta.
o No escribas el libro.
• For negative commands, reflexive and object pronouns are placed in front of the verb, not
attached to the end of the verb:
o No lo escribas.
o No la cierres.
Provided by the Academic Center for Excellence 2 Spanish: Commands
Updated February 2020
o No te vayas.
o No lo hagas.
• The plural of familiar commands uses the third person plural form (ustedes) of the
subjunctive tense:
o Escriban ahora.
o Hagan sus camas.
Note: In Spain, the informal plural of informal commands uses vosotros and is conjugated differently.
Affirmative Vosotros Commands
• To form affirmative vosotros commands, replace the “r” at the end of the infinitive form of
the verb with a “d”:
o Escribir → Escribi- → Escribid el ensayo.
o Lavar → Lava- → Lavad la ropa.
• Pronouns are attached to the end of the verb:
o Escribidlo (Lo refers to el ensayo).
o Lavadla (La refers to la ropa).
Negative Vosotros Commands
• Use the second person plural (vosotros) subjunctive form of the word:
o No escribáis.
o No lavéis
• Reflexive and object pronouns are placed in front of the verb, not attached to the end of
the verb:
o No lo escribáis (Lo refers to el ensayo).
o No la lavéis (La refers to la ropa).
Affirmative and Negative Reflexive Vosotros Commands
• With the reflexive infinitive form of the verb, remove the “r” from the end of the verb. Add
“os” onto the end:
o Levantaos.
Provided by the Academic Center for Excellence 3 Spanish: Commands
Updated February 2020
o Bañaos.
The only exception is the verb "irse" which retains the final "d”:
o ¡Idos! (Go away!)
• Verbs ending in "-ir" require a written accent:
o Vestíos.
Negative Reflexive Vosotros Commands
• Conjugate the verb in the second person plural form (vosotros) of the subjunctive tense.
Place the pronoun “os” in front of the verb:
o No os levantáis.
o No os bañáis.
Nosotros/as Commands
• Nosotros/as commands correspond with let’s – [verb] in English:
o Let’s go to the store.
• Use the nosotros/as forms of the present subjunctive for both affirmative and negative
nosotros/as commands:
o Comamos.
• When using affirmative reflexive verbs, remove the “s” from the end of the subjunctive
nosotros/as form of the verb, and add the reflexive pronoun “nos” to the end of the verb:
o Sentarse → Nos sentemos → Sentémonos.
o Irse → Nos vayamos → Vayámonos.
Indirect Commands (él, ella, ellos, ellas)
• Indirect commands are used to express “Let someone do something.” Use the construction
que + [verb]; conjugate the verb in the third person form of the subjunctive tense:
o Que lo haga ella. (Let her do it.)
o Que coman ellos. (Let them eat.)
o Que no se sienten ellos. (Don’t let them sit down.)
Provided by the Academic Center for Excellence 4 Spanish: Commands
Updated February 2020
Indirect Commands with Decir que
• Indirect commands with decir que are used to express that someone is telling someone else
to do something (Example: Your mom is telling you to clean your room.). For the Spanish
equivalent, use this formula:
Independent clause + que + dependent clause
Form of decir + que + verb in subjunctive
o Tu madre te dice que limpies tu cuarto. (Your mom is telling you to clean your room.)
o Ella les dice a sus hijos que limpien sus cuartos. (She is telling her children to clean
their rooms.)
Provided by the Academic Center for Excellence 5 Spanish: Commands
Updated February 2020
