Tú commands

Question

Overview

Tú commands are the singular form of informal commands. To tell a friend, family member, classmate, child, or pet to do something, use the affirmative tú command. To tell one of those same people not to do something, use the negative tú command.

Affirmative Informal Commands

For the familiar affirmative commands, use the 3rd person singular form of the present indicative.

• Compra la camisa. (Buy the shirt.)
• ¡Aprende español! (Learn Spanish!)
• ¡Escribe el ensayo! (Write the essay!)

Pronoun Placement with Commands

Pronoun placement: the pronoun is attached to the end of affirmative commands.

• Tráemelo. (Bring it to me.)

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Punctuation to the Rescue!

Because this command is the same conjugation as the 3rd person singular, it is helpful to include exclamation points to indicate urgency or the name of the person you are commanding followed by a comma. (Without the comma, your sentence is just 3rd person singular present indicative.

• Alicia, compra la camisa. (Alicia, buy the shirt.)
• Alicia compra la camisa. (Alicia buys the shirt.)

Irregular Affirmative Informal Commands

All irregular 3rd person singular present indicative verbs maintain that irregularity in the affirmative informal command except the following 8 verbs which have a special irregular form in the affirmative command.

Irregular Affirmative Informal Commands

decir	di	salir	sal
hacer	haz	ser	sé
ir	ve	tener	ten
poner	pon	venir	ven

Negative Informal Commands

Negative informal commands are very different from affirmative informal commands. They are actually more similar to the formal commands in that they use the tú form of the present subjunctive of each verb. And always make sure you have a no in front of the verb. This makes it negative.

• No compres la camisa. (Do not buy the shirt.)
• ¡No aprendas español. (Do not learn Spanish!)
• ¡No escribas el ensayo! (Do not write the essay!)

Pronoun Placement

Pronoun placement: the pronoun precedes the verb in negative commands.

• No te levantes antes de comer tu calabaza. (Don´t get up before you eat your squash.)

Another way to form the negative informal command is to -s to the end of the negative formal command.

Alternative Negative Tú Command Formations

infinitive	negative formal command	negative informal command
Comprar	no compre Ud.	no compres
Aprender	no aprenda Ud.	no aprendas
Escribir	no escriba Ud.	no escribas

Irregulars

There are no irregular negative informal commands. If a verb is irregular in the present subjunctive, it maintains the same irregular in the negative informal command as well.

Exercises

1) Conjugate each infinitive in parenthesis to both the affirmative and negative command for each phrase.

Example: (Comer) su calabaza. -> Come, No comas

1. (Sacar) un lápiz.
2. (Limpiar) la cocina.
3. (Lavar) los platos.
4. (Hacer) tu tarea.
5. (Salir) por esta puerta.
6. (Abrir) tu libro.
7. (Escribir) un ensayo.
8. (Tener) cuidado.
9. (Hablar) con tu compañero.
10. (Dar) una vuelta.
11. (Poner) tu proyecto en la mesa.
12. (Estudiar) mucho esta noche.
13. (Ir) a la oficina.
14. (Decir) tu memoria favorita.
15. (Tocar) la guitarra.

Answers

1. Saca, No saques
2. Limpia, No limpies
3. Lava, No laves
4. Haz, No hagas
5. Sal, No salgas
6. Abre, No abras
7. Escribe, No escribas
8. Ten, No tengas
9. Habla, No hables
10. Da, No des
11. Pon, No pongas
12. Estudia, No estudies
13. Ve, No vayas
14. Di, No digas
15. Toca, No toques

• is 10. negative not - no des una vuelta - (seeing as 'des' is 2nd person subjunctive of dar?) - santiago10 26 de Ene, 2010
• what s/he said. if this does not follow the normal pattern, needs to be explained why! - claire_f 9 de Mar, 2010