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So remember! ... the "affirmative tú" commands use the "usted" form, not the tú form of the present tense!

Following are more examples of commands use three regular verbs: hablar, comer, and escribir.

Habla (tú) más lentamente.

(You) Speak more slowly.

Come (tú) tu cena.

(You) Eat your dinner.

Escribe (tú) la carta.

(You) Write the letter.

Let's see what happens when you command someone NOT to do something....

No hables durante el examen.

Don't talk during the exam.

In the present tense of the -ar verb HABLAR, you say, "tú hablas." But in the command, we switch the vowels of the endings so that -ar verbs change to -e and -er/-ir verbs switch to -a.

The negative tú command becomes the pattern for the rest of your commands (Ud., Uds. and nosotros, for the "let's verbs")

Now you will remember that in the present tense, there are verbs that are irregular, stem-changing (boot verbs) and some that are spell-changing (yo-go; -car/-gar/-zar verbs). So those, you will need to pay special attention to, as present tense rules apply here. For example, the verb contar (to count or to tell a story/joke) has a stem change so that the -o changes to -ue. Because it's a boot verb, nosotros and vosotros are excluded from the stem change. Example: Manuel, cuenta tu dinero. (count your money) In this example, I have conjugated the verb for usted, to form the affirmative tú command. I have also taken a second step in its formation, by changing the stem to -ue.

Careful! When making the negative tú command, I need to think present tense again, and change the stem and also the vowel in the ending. For example, in the present tense, I say, tú cuentas. Bu in the negative command, I will say: No cuentes. The stem change is in place and the ending changes from -as to -es. This now, becomes the pattern for the usted, ustedes and nosotros commands.

To recap, compare the affirmative informal (tú) commands with the negative informal (tú) commands:

Verb CONTAR

Affirmative: Cuenta tus beneficios.

Count your blessings.

Negative: No cuentes tus beneficios.

Don't count your blessings.

Verb COMER

Affirmative: Come rápidamente.

Eat fast.

Negative: No comas rápidamente.

Don't eat fast.

Irregular Commands ("tú")

Remember also, that in Spanish, there are several irregular "tú commands"...

decir - di *

salir - sal *

hacer - haz

ser - sé

ir - ve

tener -ten *

poner - pon *

venir - ven *

traer - trae *

mantener - mantén *

* YO-GO verbs

Now let's see what happens to these irregular verbs...

Among the yo-go verbs, the yo form of the Present tense has a "go" in it! Yo pongo, yo digo, etc. We will use this form to create the stem of the negative tú commands for these irregular verbs. You will then attach the same endings as you did for the affirmative command as follows:

Decir (to say): di (+) no digas (-)

salir (to go out): sal (+) no salgas (-)

Venir (to come): ven (+) no vengas (-)

Poner (to put): pon (+) no pongas (-)

Hacer (to do): haz (+) no hagas (-)

Tener (to have): ten (-) no tengas (-)

Mantener (to maintain): mantén (+) no mantengas (-)

and the other two irregular verbs:

Ser (to be): sé (+) no seas (-)

Ir (to go): ve (+) no vayas (-)

You have to memorize this. There is no other way around it! Fortunately, there are few verbs like these!

Now let's see how the negative tú helps form the affirmative and negative USTED, USTEDES and NOSOTROS commands.

Compre Ud. el anillo. You (formal) buy the ring.

No compre el anillo. (don't buy the wring)

Ustedes, compren los anillos. (you all, buy the rings)

Ustedes no compren los anillos. (you all, don't buy the rings)

(nosotros - let's verbs, where you, 1st person, are part of a group and you are its leader)

Compremos los anillos.

No compremos los anillos.

Remember, formal speech is generally used to be polite or to express respect. Informal, or familiar, speech is used among friends, coworkers, relatives, or when addressing a child.

Summary of formal commands:

Infinitive Ending Usted Affirmative/Negative Endings Ustedes Affirmative/Negative Endings

– AR –e –en

Example: hablar Ud. hable Ustedes hablen

no hable no hablen

– ER –a –an

Example: comer Ud. coma Ustedes coman

no coma no coman

- IR –a –an

Example: escribir usted escriba Ustedes escriban

no escriba no escriban

Using Object Pronouns with Commands

Notes:

With all affirmative commands, pronouns are attached directly to the end of the command.

Compre Ud. el anillo.

Buy the ring.

Now let's replace el anillo with the direct object pronoun lo, which matches it in gender and number

Cómprelo Ud.

Buy it.

Notice that I placed an accent over the -o. That is because the word is now longer; I have added a syllable and in Spanish it's always important to retain the original sound of the original word. Accent rules tell us that when a word ends in a vowel an -n or an -s, the second to last syllable is naturally stressed and therefore, it does not need an accent. But now with the additional syllable formed by the pronoun lo, the -o in compre is no longer stressed. It would be the -e. So we have a problem that we fix with the accent over the first -o. Thus we retain the original sound of compre, before lo was attached. TIP!: Cover the pronoun or pronouns, to find the originally stressed syllable!

Now when the same command is negative, the pronouns are placed before the command. Each word retains its original sound and no accents are needed.

Let's see what happens when the command has two vowels in a syllable that requires an accent. We know that in Spanish, the -i and the -u are weak, so the accent is placed on the strong vowel for emphasis,

Traiga Ud. las cartas.

Bring the letters.

Tráigalas Ud.

Bring them.

But remember that when you have two strong vowels in a syllable, they are counted as two syllables. For example, tú tráelas. (trá-e-las).

When you have to incorporate two pronouns, direct is always last. Example:

Cómprame un libro becomes cómpramelo. Buy it for me.

Reflexive verb example:

Cepíllate tu pelo becomes: Cepíllatelo. (brush it for yourself)

When reflexive verbs are applied to affirmative nosotros commands, the -s of the command is dropped. For instance:

Let's wake up (despertarse): depertémonos.

Practica un poco ahora...

https://studyspanish.com/grammar/lessons/commrev1

https://studyspanish.com/grammar/test/commrev1

Spanish Commands

Commands are used when ordering, or telling someone to do something. You might think of them as rude, but they are not. You are just telling someone something like, "sit down," "don't cross the street when the light is red," etc. To form a command, you need to think back to the present tense. The affirmative tú will be different from the negative tú in its formation. The easiest way to remember the formation of the affirmative tú, is to conjugate a verb for third person, as in USTED. In the present tense you say, usted compra..., or usted escribe. See how that applies to the affirmative tú commands below. Examples:

Using the verb comprar (to buy):

Compra (tú) el anillo.

(You) Buy the ring.

Using the verb escribir (to write):

Escribe (tú) la tarea.

(You) Do the homework.

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