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Formal Commands in Spanish

This document provides information about forming commands in Spanish. It begins by explaining that commands in English are simple and use the base verb form without a subject. It then explains that commands in Spanish are more complicated because of different ways to say "you" depending on formality and number. However, the lesson will focus on formal commands only. It provides examples of formal commands and explains how to form them based on the infinitive verb form. For regular verbs, the "yo" form is used and the "-o" is dropped and replaced with the "opposite vowel" depending on the verb type. Irregular command forms are also discussed. The document concludes by noting the importance of commands for learning the subjunctive verb form.

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Andrés Romero
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305 views18 pages

Formal Commands in Spanish

This document provides information about forming commands in Spanish. It begins by explaining that commands in English are simple and use the base verb form without a subject. It then explains that commands in Spanish are more complicated because of different ways to say "you" depending on formality and number. However, the lesson will focus on formal commands only. It provides examples of formal commands and explains how to form them based on the infinitive verb form. For regular verbs, the "yo" form is used and the "-o" is dropped and replaced with the "opposite vowel" depending on the verb type. Irregular command forms are also discussed. The document concludes by noting the importance of commands for learning the subjunctive verb form.

Uploaded by

Andrés Romero
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Formal Commands!

Ten-Hut! In this presentation, you will learn about making commands in Spanish.

Commands in English
are pretty easy. You just use a base verb form (without a subject, since its always you) to tell people what they should do:

Stand up! Sit down! Do your homework! Take out the garbage! Be quiet!

Commands in English
and what they shouldnt do:

Dont write in your books! Dont speak English in Spanish class! Dont be silly!

Commands in Spanish
are little more complicated because we have so many ways of saying you:

T: informal, singular Vosotros: informal, plural Ud.: formal, singular Uds.: formal, plural

However, we will concentrate on the formal commands only.

Lets look at a few examples!


Hable despacio, por favor. Repita, por favor.! Sintese Ud. aqu. Entreguen Uds. la tarea. Hagan el ejercicio B. No hagan el ejercicio A. No se levante Ud.! No corran en la clase!

Hable despacio, por favor.


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: HABLHablar is an AR verb, so add E to form the command: HABLE

Repita, por favor.


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: REPITRepetir is an IR verb, so add A to form the command: REPITA

Opposite vowels
Think of the verb adding the opposite vowel: AR verbs add an E. ER & IR verbs add an A.

Lets try a couple!


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.

Uds
Entreguen Uds. la tarea. Right! Just add an N to the command form when you are talking to more than one person.

Lets try a couple more!


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.

Levntese!
What about reflexive verbs? Levntese! / Sintese! In affirmative commands, all objects are attached to the end of the verb.

Levante + se Levanten + se

No!
How do we make negative commands in Spanish?

No fume! No tome caf! No coma tanto!

Right simply put the word NO in front of the command form.

No se levante!
What about reflexive verbs? No se levante! No se sinte! In negative commands, all objects precede the verb.

No No No No

se se se se

levante. levanten. siente. sienten.

Some irregulars
What would a lesson be without a few irregulars to make it interesting?? Can you guess where these forms come from?

Haga la tarea. Tenga paciencia. Salga ahora. Vuelva a casa. Piense bien. S bueno! Est tranquila!

Qu pasa?
Haga la tarea.

Hacer > yo hago > -o + -a Tener > yo tengo > -o + -a Salir > yo salgo > - o + -a Volver > yo vuelvo > -o + -a Pensar > yo pienso > -o + -e

Tenga paciencia.

Salga ahora.

Vuelva a casa.

Piense bien.

These verbs follow the same formula: start with the yo form, drop the o, and add the opposite vowel.

S, est, d, sepa, vaya


These five verbs are very irregular for a good reason:

Ser > yo soy Estar > yo estoy Dar > yo doy Saber > yo s Ir > yo voy

The yo form does not end in an o, so there is no o to drop when forming the command form.

Terminemos por ahora!


Thats all for now, but learn this concept well the command form will be very important when we learn about our last verb form this semester the subjunctive.

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