Give Orders in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to give orders in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• use tú commands

• use ustedes commands

• use common vocabulary related to tasks around the house

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Noun

Spanish	English
la lejía	bleach

examples
Límpialos con lejía. Clean them with bleach.

Verbs: Tú Command Forms

In this skill, you learn the command forms for the following verbs!

Infinitive	English	Tú Command Form	Negative Tú Command Form
acostarse	to go to bed	acuéstate	no te acuestes
dar	to give	da	no des
hacer	to make, to do	haz	no hagas
lavar	to wash	lava	no laves
levantarse	to get up	levántate	no te levantes
limpiar	to clean	limpia	no limpies
ponerse	to put on	ponte	no te pongas
quitarse	to take off	quítate	no te quites
sacar	to take out	saca	no saques

Forming Affirmative Tú Commands

For regular verbs, you will simply use the third-person singular form (él, ella, usted form) of the present to form an affirmative tú command.

examples
Saca al perro. Take out the dog.
Limpia los baños. Clean the bathrooms.

Pronoun Placement in Affirmative Tú Commands

Pronouns are attached to the end of affirmative commands. A written accent (tilde) is often added to maintain the verb's original stress, especially if more than one pronoun is used.

examples
Sácalo varias veces al día. Take it out several times a day.
Límpialos con lejía. Clean them with bleach.

Forming Negative Tú Commands

Always make sure you put noor another negative word like nunca(never) in front of the verb when forming a negative informal command.

Negative tú commands are formed differently than affirmative tú commands. They use the present subjunctive form of the verb! That means regular -ar verbs end in -es, and regular -er and -ir verbs end in -as.

Pronoun Placement in Negative Tú Commands

If a pronoun accompanies the verb in a negative tú command, you put the reflexive, direct object, or indirect object pronoun between the negative word and the verb.

examples
No te levantes tarde. Don't get up late.
No lo saques tarde en la noche. Don't take it out late at night.

Click on the links to learn more about affirmative informal "tú" commands and negative informal "tú" commands.

Verbs: Ustedes Command Forms

In this skill, you learn the command forms for the following verbs!

Infinitive	English	Ustedes Command Form	Negative Ustedes Command Form
dar	to give	den	no den
dormir	to sleep	duerman	no duerman
meter	to put	metan	no metan
poner	to put, to set (the table)	pongan	no pongan
ponerse	to put on	pónganse	no se pongan
tomarse	to take (medicine)	tómense	no se tomen

Forming Affirmative Commands

For regular verbs, you will simply use the ustedes form of the present subjunctive. That means regular -ar verbs will end in -en, and regular -er and -ir verbs will end in -an.

There are also irregular verbs in the ustedes command form. Duerman and pongan are some of the irregular verbs that we studied in this lesson. You can learn more about irregular present subjunctive verbs in this article.

examples
Duerman siete u ocho horas. Sleep seven or eight hours.
Pongan la mesa. Set the table.

Pronoun Placement in Affirmative Ustedes Commands

Pronouns are attached to the end of affirmative commands. If the command form of the verb has more than one syllable, a written accent is added when attaching a pronoun.

examples
Métanlos en el horno. Put them in the oven.
Tómense el jarabe. Take the syrup.

Forming Negative Commands

To form a negative command, all you have to do is put a negative word such as noin front of the affirmative ustedes command.

examples
No duerman con la ventana abierta. Don't sleep with the window open.

Pronoun Placement in Negative Ustedes Commands

Pronouns come between the negative word (such as no) and the verb in negative ustedes commands.

examples
No los pongan todavía. Don't put them out yet.
No se lo tomen hasta las diez. Don't take it until ten.

Learn more about ustedes commands in this article.

Phrases

Here are some of the phrases used in these lessons!

Spanish	English
Lávate las manos.	Wash your hands.
Levántate temprano.	Get up early.
No te levantes tarde.	Don't get up late.

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Lucía:

Pablo, ¿qué tengo que hacer en esta casa? Soy nueva aquí.

Pablo, what do I have to do in this house? I’m new here.

Pablo:

Primero, saca al perro. Sácalo varias veces al día.

First, take out the dog. Take it out several times a day.

Lucía:

No me gustan los perros, Pablo. ¿Qué más puedo hacer?

I don’t like dogs, Pablo. What else can I do?

Pablo:

Entonces limpia los baños. Límpialos con lejía y no los limpies rápidamente.

Then clean the bathrooms. Clean them with bleach and don’t clean them quickly.

Lucía:

No me gusta limpiar baños, Pablo. ¿Qué hago después de limpiar los baños?

I don’t like to clean bathrooms, Pablo. What do I do after cleaning the bathrooms?

Pablo:

Lávate las manos. Lávatelas con jabón, y no te las laves solo con agua. ¡Esta es una casa muy saludable!

Wash your hands. Wash them with soap, don’t wash them just with water. This is a very healthy house!

Want to learn more about how to give orders in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• How to Talk About Chores in Spanish

• Furnish Your Apartment in Spanish

• How to Rent an Apartment in Spanish