Spanish Imperative: Form The Imperative In Spanish Grammar

MAURA
¡Para! Relájate… Mira este video hasta el final y aprende español ahora y para siempre… Repite después de mi: Maura es la mejor profesora de español.
(Stop! Relax… Watch this video until the end and learn Spanish now and forever…
Repeat after me: Maura is the best Spanish teacher.)

How to make Commands in Spanish (The Spanish Imperative)

Watch this video on YouTube

Of course, Maura is one of the teachers at Spring Spanish, and if you haven’t guessed it yet, you’re learning about the Spanish imperative today.

Also, useful outside of hypnosis ;).

As always, you’re going to learn through chunks, so pay close attention, y ¡empecemos!

1. What’s the Spanish imperative mood?

So, primero lo primero (first things first).

What does this mood do apart from hypnotizing people? Check out the following example and let’s see what you gather from that:

AMANDA
Llámame cuando llegues. Y llévate medias extra que eso siempre falta. Y por favor ponte protector todos los días.
(Call me when you arrive. And take extra socks with you, that’s always needed. And please wear sunscreen every day.)

MAURA
¡Que sí! Déjame terminar de hacer la maleta en paz y después revísala tú y así te quedas tranquil.
(Yes! Let me finish packing the suitcase in peace and then you check it and that way you’ll rest easy.)

AMANDA
Ok. Ten en cuenta que puede que haga más frío del que parece.
(Ok. Keep in mind that it may be colder than it seems.)

MAURA
Amanda…

AMANDA
Vale, vale. “Cállate, Amanda”. Ya entendí.
(Okay, okay. “Shut up, Amanda.” I got it.)

As you can see, they are both basically telling each other what to do.

More specifically, this Spanish imperative mood works for:

instructions,
orders,
petitions and
advice towards one or more people.

It is one of those regularly used moods you can find in everyday conversations and many more scenarios like: classes of any kind, any place you get a service from and almost every piece of advertisement.

Let’s go through examples for each so you can see it even more clearly.

Use the imperative mood for instructions

Spanish	English
Encoge los hombros, respira profundo y déjalos caer.	Shrug your shoulders, take a deep breath, and let them fall.
Pon el audífono correspondiente en cada oreja y deja presionado hasta que el aparato emita un pitido.	Put the corresponding earphone in each ear and press and hold until the device beeps.
Separa el cabello en tres secciones iguales y cubre la del medio con las laterales, alternando lados mientras trenzas.	Separate the hair into 3 equal sections and cover the middle section with the side sections, alternating sides while braiding.

Use imperative in Spanish for orders

Spanish	English
¡Déjame en paz!	Leave me alone!
No me llames más nunca, olvídate de mi.	Don’t call me ever again, forget about me.
Aguanta esto.	Hold this.

For this last one, there are almost as many versions as countries in Latin America.

Some people say:

coge esto (catch this),
agarra esto (grab this),
toma esto (take this).

And some people mostly use aguantar (hold).

spanish imperative explained by spring spanish teacher maura on screen

Also, use the first two order chunks if you ever have a very telenovela type of breakup with a Spanish speaker.

Form the imperative for petitions

Spanish	English
Hazme el favor de pasarme la cartera.	Do me a favor and pass me my purse.
Dame un limón, porfa.	Give me a lemon, please.
Porfis ven y cuéntame qué pasó.	Please come and tell me what happened.

Essentially, petitions are orders made nicely.

Imperative mood in Spanish for giving advice

Spanish	English
Llámala cuanto antes porque estaba súper molesta cuando la vi.	Call her as soon as possible because she was super upset when I saw her.
Pregúntale a tu tía, ella seguro puede recomendarte un buen terapeuta.	Ask your aunt, she can surely recommend a good therapist.
Búscalo en YouTube, debe haber un buen tutorial a juro.	Search for it on YouTube, there should be a good tutorial for sure.

CHUNK ALERT!

You have got to learn a juro (for sure, lit.: by force) because you’re learning Spanish with me and Venezuelans use this all the freaking time.

Maura say:

Yo no soy para nada la excepción. (I am not at all the exception.) I believe only Colombians use it as well.

Here in Spain and even in Mexico they use the equivalent: a huevo (for sure, lit.: by egg), for example.

It’s the same concept: something that has to be, must be, definitely is.

If you want to use a juro and feel like a true Venezuelan/Colombian, just put it at the beginning or at the end of anything that has to be, like:

Con este video tienes que aprender a usar el imperativo a juro. (With this video you have to learn how to use the imperative for sure.)

Also a juro (for sure), go get our free Essential Spanish Chunking kit through that link in the description, if you haven’t done it yet.

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2. The Spanish imperative mood in the present tense

Before we jump into the conjugation, be sure to stick till the end because we’ll cover some of the most common chunks in the imperative we natives use on a constant basis.

AMANDA
Está bien, pero mete un suéter más grueso por si acaso.
(That’s fine, but pack a thicker sweater just in case.)

MAURA
Está muy bien. ¿Algo más Señorita Amanda Preocupación?
(That’s very good. Anything else Miss Amanda Worry?)

AMANDA
Lo último, asegúrense de revisar qué moteles tienen en la vía por si se cansan de manejar.
(Lastly, be sure to check which motels are on the road in case you get tired of driving.)

AMANDA
Eso está listo y nosotros también. Ahora ya quédese tranquila, por favor.
(That’s ready and so are we. Now stay calm, please.)

From this dialogue we get:

Spanish	English
Mete un suéter más grueso por si acaso.	Pack a thicker sweater just in case.
Asegúrense de revisar qué moteles tienen en la vía.	Be sure to check which motels are on the road.
Ahora ya quédese tranquila.	Now stay calm.

The main thing for you to get here is that since we are talking about instructions, orders and the sort, this mood only conjugates itself like you saw in the dialogue, around tú, usted and ustedes. (You, formal you and plural you.)

The only other thing you can do is make it negative or affirmative.

Let’s put all of this into a little table so you can see it clearly, but remember, it’s not meant for you to memorize. Focus on the many chunks used in this lesson instead.

Pick your favorites, try using them and detecting them when you’re listening to Spanish and you’ll be better off.

Here’s that table. Let’s get very dramatic and use olvídate de mí (forget about me) as our sample chunk, shall we?

Pronoun	Verb	Affirmative Chunk	Negative Chunk
Tú (You)	*Olvídate*	*¡Olvídate de mí!*	*¡No te olvides de mí!*
*Usted* (Formal you)	*Olvídese*	*¡Olvídese de mí!*	*¡No se olvide de mí!*
*Ustedes* (Plural you)	*Olvídense*	*¡Olvídense de mí!*	*¡No se olviden de mí!*

This chunk in the negative actually stops being so dramatic and it’s more the type of thing you tell people to ask them to include you in something.

Like, if someone is counting the people that are coming to a dinner party, you can say: ¡No se olviden de mí! (Don’t forget about me!) to ask them to include you.

3. Super common chunks in Spanish imperative

AMANDA
¡Maura!

MAURA
¡¿Qué?!
(What?!)

AMANDA
¡Ven!
(Come!)

MAURA
Ya voy. Por fa ponle la comida al gato que ya es la hora.
(I’m coming. Please give the cat food since it’s time.)

AMANDA
Ok, dame un segundo y se la pongo.
(Ok, give me a second and I’ll give it to him.)

So, all of these verbs in the imperative show up in my life almost on a daily basis:

Spanish	English
Ven.	Come.
Ponle la comida al gato.	Give the cat food.
Dame.	Give me.

You can use ven y dame (come and give me) on their own or specify even more. Common combinations could be:

Spanish	English
Ven rápido.	Come quick.
Dame un beso.	Give me a kiss.
Ponle orégano a la salsa.	Put oregano in the sauce.

Or any ingredient to anything you’re cooking.

There’s a couple that are just as useful but made no sense in the dialogue.

Spanish	English
Llámame.	Call me.
Toma.	Take this.
Avísame.	Let me know.

Again, these too work well on their one, but you can pair them up with many things, such as:

Spanish	English
Llámame cuando llegues.	Call me when you get there.
Avísame cuando sepas.	Let me know when you know.
Toma, porfa.	Take this, please.

Toma (take this) might be the hardest one to pair up. The usual will definitely be to use it on its own.

As a little practice, we’ll advise this:

Google the following: anuncios publicitarios en español imperativo (Spanish advertisements in imperative), check the examples and write down all the imperatives you can find. These will certainly be some of the most common and you can now add them to your imperative repertoire.

Now, the imperative is quite a straightforward mood that will certainly make you feel like a native but, of course, there are other moods, granted more complex ones, that can elevate that feeling even more.