Command form sometimes not used?
I've been trying to watch more Spanish shows and stuff, and sometimes I hear people say ¡Mira! Or telling their dog to speak (¡Habla!"). My question is why aren't they using the informal/formal command form; ex. Mire(s) or hable(s)? Thanks for any help or better examples on when to use it.
3 Answers
Mira or Habla is the singular, informal, affirmative, command form. The singular, informal (tú) command is the same as the 3rd personal, singular, present tense, indicative mood form of the verb.
You would only use mires or hables if you were forming the negative, tú command.
The formal commands would be:
mire, hable (for both affirmative and negative, singular (usted), formal commands.)
There is also some very good information in the "More" link at the top of each page.
Look under the topic "Verbs" and then scroll down to the sub-topic "Imperatives (commands)". You will find several good discussions/articles/answers on the topic of commands.
Actually, the affirmative informal/familiar command form of "ar" verbs is the same as the 3rd person singular (Ud./él/ella) of the Present Indicative tense.
Therefore, the affirmative command to "look" from the verb "mirar" would be "mira" in the familiar.
And the affirmative command to "speak" from the verb "hablar" would be "habla" in the familiar.
It is the informal/familiar negative command that would be the same as the 2nd person singular familiar/informal (tú form) of the Present Subjunctive.
Therefore, the negative command to say don't look for the verb "mirar" would be "no mires"
The formal command, both positive and negative, for "ar" verbs is the same as the 3rd person singular (Ud./ él/ella) of the Present Subjunctive.
I know that this can be very confusing. The lessons on commands/the imperative in Learn Spanish on this Web site helped me a lot in sorting this out.
I hope that this helps.
