Affirmative imperative

The affirmative imperative is the verb form used to give direct commands, instructions, or requests. Spanish has distinct imperative forms for four address levels: tú (one person, informal), vosotros (group, informal, used in Spain), usted (one person, formal), and ustedes (group, formal, and the standard plural in Latin America). Each level is built differently, and object pronouns must be attached directly to the end of the verb.

• Direct commands: telling someone to do something immediately — «Abre la puerta.»

• Instructions: giving steps in a process — «Mezcla el agua y la harina.»

• Requests and invitations: softened with por favor — «Habla más despacio, por favor.»

• Directions: telling someone where to go — «Sigue todo recto y gira a la derecha.»

tú form (regular): Take the third-person singular of the present indicative. This gives the same form as él/ella — habla, come, vive. There is no final -s.

vosotros form (regular): Replace the final -r of the infinitive with -d. This rule is completely regular, with no exceptions.

usted / ustedes forms: These are borrowed from the present subjunctive. For -ar verbs the endings are -e / -en; for -er/-ir verbs the endings are -a / -an.

Eight irregular tú forms: These must be memorised individually. They do not follow the third-person-singular rule.

Enclitic pronouns: With affirmative imperatives, object pronouns are always attached to the end of the verb, forming a single word. The stress pattern of the original verb is preserved, which sometimes requires a written accent: cómpralo, dímelo, póntelo. When two pronouns are attached, the indirect object pronoun comes first.

• Adding -s to the tú imperative. Because the present indicative tú form ends in -s (e.g. hablas, comes), learners often produce ✗ hablas, ✗ comes as imperatives. The correct forms are habla and come — identical to the él/ella present form, with no -s.

• Regularizing the eight irregular tú forms. Applying the standard rule to irregular verbs gives wrong forms: ✗ dice, ✗ hace, ✗ pone, ✗ sale. The correct forms are di, haz, pon, sal (and likewise ten, ven, sé, ve). These eight forms must be memorised.

• Placing the pronoun before the verb. With affirmative imperatives, the pronoun must be attached after the verb, never placed before it. ✗ lo compra is wrong; the correct form is cómpralo. Note that pre-verbal placement is correct in negative commands («no lo compres»), which can cause confusion.