Informal Commands

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Informal Commands
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Informal Commands

• To give a command in Spanish, you must first
  decide whether you wish to use an informal (tú)
  or formal (usted) command. In this lesson we will
  focus on informal commands since they are
  considered to be friendlier.
• Secondly, you must be aware of whether you are
  giving a positive or negative command since each
  has a different conjugation.
• For example
• Catch (positive) Agarra!
• Dont Catch (negative) No agarres!

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Positive Informal Commands
Conjugating a positive informal command is very
easy. The conjugation is the same as the present
tense usted form of the verb. (Yes, the tú
command uses an usted conjugation!) Here are some
examples gt
Verb Positive Informal Command
Tomar Toma!
Traer Trae!
Hablar Habla!
Tirar Tira!
Beber Bebe!
Vivir Vive!
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Negative Informal Commands
Conjugating a negative informal command is a
little more complicated. Here are the steps

• Conjugate the verb in the present tense yo form.
  
• Remove the o.
• Add es to AR verbs or as to ER -IR verbs.

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Here are some examples
Verb Yo form minus the O Negative Informal Command
Tomar Tom- No tomes!
Traer Traig- No traigas!
Hablar Habl- No hables!
Contar Cuent- No cuentes!
Beber Beb- No bebas!
Conocer Conozc- No conozcas!
Notice that any stem changes or spelling changes
in the yo form remain in the command form.
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Using Commands With Pronouns

• Command forms are often used with object
  pronouns like it, or her. How you deal with
  these pronouns depends on whether you are giving
  a positive or negative command. To give a
  negative command, simply use the pronoun as you
  always would.
• For example
• Dont do it No lo hagas.
• Dont throw it to her No se lo tires.

If you need a review of how object pronouns
work, click here!
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Using Commands With Pronouns cont

• Unfortunately, even though positive commands
  are easier to conjugate than negative commands,
  they are more complicated when dealing with
  pronouns. Follow these rules to use them
  properly
• Pronouns are attached to the end of positive
  commands.
• For example Eat it Cómelo.Throw it to her
  Tíraselo.
• As you can see in the examples above, attaching a
  pronoun often requires adding an accent also.
  This allows the stress pattern of the original
  verb to remain the same. You will need to place
  an accent on the original stress point if you
• Attach one pronoun to a verb with two or more
  syllables
• Attach two pronouns to any verb
• As always, if you use both a direct and an
  indirect object pronoun, the indirect comes
  first. Likewise, if you use le, or les before lo,
  la, los, or las it will change to se.

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Irregulars

• The following verbs have irregular command
  forms

Verb Positive Form Negative Form
To put Pon No pongas (regular)
To come Ven No vengas (regular)
To go Ve No vayas
To be Sé No seas
To have Ten No tengas (regular)
To do, to make Haz No hagas (regular)
To leave Sal No salgas (regular)
To say, to tell Di No digas (regular)
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Now you try it! On a piece of paper, or in your
head, conjugate the following and then click for
the correct answer. Note do not use tú when
giving a command.
Ask! (Preguntar) Study! (Estudiar) Run!
(Correr) Write! (Escribir)
Pregunta!
Estudia!
Corre!
Escribe!
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Good, now try some negatives!
Dont ask! (Preguntar) Dont run!
(Correr) Dont return! (Volver ogtue) Dont
come! (Venir)
No preguntes!
No corras!
No vuelvas!
No vengas!
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Finally, try some with pronouns.
Buy it (f) for me! (Comprar) Study them (m)!
(Estudiar) Dont eat it (f)! (Comer) Dont
throw it (m) to us! (Tirar)
Cómpramela!
Estudíalos!
No la comas!
No nos lo tires!
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El Fin!