The polite imperative.

Question

After hearing this for at least a hundred times I think I finally understand.

There is a very polite commanding (imperative) mode.

Two examples:

"¿Te bañas ,por favor?' (or we will arrive late)

"¿Te mueves,por favor?' (move over please,give me some space)

Without the 'por favor' the statement would have no meaning, as I understand. please check and correct me in this concept.

Answer 1

Heh-heh.... this is one of those things that native speakers never think about, so it gives pause when someone brings it up . I reckon you're sort of right.

It is possible to say "¡te bañas!" or "te mueves!". This in fact would be rather harsh imperatives; the kind a fed up parent would say to a rebellious child: "go take your bath! (or else)", "move! (or else...)"

When you add the word "por favor?" - and it should have that question mark at the end- you are softening it up somewhat, and making it more polite. However, to me, this is still a rather impatient form of imperative, akin to: "will you take you bath, already?" and ""will you kindly get outta my way?".

I like the "or else" concept in your post. - pacofinkler, Feb 19, 2011

nice explanation - 0043ad50, Feb 19, 2011

I know this was a while back, but good explanation...but yours nearly always are. Your truly bilingual and appear aware of a great many tiny little nuances in English, which helps us greatly. :) - webdunce, Sep 10, 2011

Answer 2

Hola Paco. No estás solo. I asked a similar question before:

imperative in 2nd person indicative

Answer 3

Paco:

You need a question mark at the end. These are actually questions.

¿Te bañas, por favor? The question mark and the intonation make it a polite command.

Es así. - Gekkosan, Feb 19, 2011

Oye! I will go fix it -you are absolutely correct! - pacofinkler, Feb 19, 2011

Answer 4

Responding to gekkosan.(to long for a comment). We old party animals here in the north of México all crowd around the kitchen island to chat and have our drinks. When one of the group wants to squeeze into a space the phrase "¿te mueves,por favor?' is used. A polite way to 'command " the other to "move over' As I said in the post, I heard this so often without realizing what it really was, In the context it is quite polite yet imperative. As I have learned since, the "¿por favor?" added, is essential. or the command is rather ugly.

Yes. Doubltessly there's an element of local custom. Where I've been, "te mueves", even with "por favor" would not be used in the same way you describe it, because there are other social formulas that are considered more polite, such as "con permiso". - Gekkosan, Feb 19, 2011

I'm familiar with that and is "typical" use, but not in the situation i describe. - pacofinkler, Feb 19, 2011

Muevete o te muevo, no? :o) - cristalino, Feb 19, 2011

@cristalino: not so polite, then. Since that's kind of how I feel about it, I avoid it and use "con permiso" instead. :-) - Gekkosan, Feb 19, 2011

A litte more rough,but acceptable among friends cristallino. - pacofinkler, Feb 19, 2011