Lesson 1.4 · Unit 1 · Structures
Telling someone what to do
Commands are the first place you meet a form you will meet again in unit 2. Some commands are borrowed from the indicative and some are not, and that split is the first hint that Spanish has two moods. This lesson reviews all the commands, in the affirmative and the negative, because the second half of them will turn out to be the subjunctive in disguise.
- Affirmative tú is the él form. hablar → habla, comer → come, escribir → escribe. Habla más despacio.
- Eight irregular affirmative tú commands. decir → di, hacer → haz, ir → ve, poner → pon, salir → sal, ser → sé, tener → ten, venir → ven.
- Negative tú: yo form, drop the -o, take the opposite vowel. hablo → no hables; como → no comas; escribo → no escribas; tengo → no tengas.
- Usted and ustedes: the same opposite-vowel pattern. Hable, coma, escriba; hablen, coman, escriban. This holds in both the affirmative and the negative.
- Pronouns attach in the affirmative. Dímelo. Siéntese. Háblenle. An accent keeps the stress where it was.
- Pronouns go before the verb in the negative. No me lo digas. No se siente. No le hablen.
- Spelling changes. buscar → busque, llegar → llegue, empezar → empiece, escoger → escoja. The same changes as the preterite yo form, and for the same reason.
- Be polite. Por favor softens a command, and usted is the form for a stranger or an older person: Siéntese, por favor.
Where students lose marks: Making the affirmative tú from the yo form (hablo is not a command), using the affirmative form for a negative command (no habla), and putting a pronoun before an affirmative command (me lo di). Check polarity, then the vowel, then the pronoun.
The problem. Write six commands: (1) Speak more slowly (informal). (2) Do not tell me (informal). (3) Come in and sit down (formal, one person). (4) Don't open the window (informal). (5) Write to us soon (formal, several people). (6) Go to bed now (informal).
Step one: command 1. Affirmative tú is the él form: Habla más despacio.
Step two: command 2. Negative tú is the yo form with the opposite vowel, and the pronoun goes before: No me lo digas.
Step three: command 3. Usted takes the opposite vowel, and sentarse attaches its pronoun with an accent: Entre y siéntese.
Step four: command 4. Negative, so the opposite vowel: No abras la ventana.
Step five: command 5. Ustedes, affirmative, with the pronoun attached: Escríbannos pronto.
Step six: command 6. Affirmative tú of acostarse is the él form with the pronoun attached: Acuéstate ahora.
Step seven: accents. The accents are written in siéntese, escríbannos and acuéstate because adding a pronoun moves the stress.
Step eight: check. Polarity decides the form (affirmative from the él form, negative from the yo form with the opposite vowel), and the pronoun attaches or goes before by polarity.
Problems 1 to 5 are routine. Problems 6 to 10 are multi-step or ask for reasoning.
- Write the affirmative tú command of hablar, comer and escribir.
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Take the él form. habla, come, escribe
- Write the affirmative tú command of decir, hacer, ir and poner.
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Four of the eight irregulars. di, haz, ve, pon
- Write the negative tú command of hablar, comer and escribir.
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Take the yo form and use the opposite vowel. no hables, no comas, no escribas
- Write the usted command of tener, salir and buscar.
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Tener and salir come from the go forms, and buscar has the spelling change. tenga, salga, busque
- Write the ustedes command of abrir and cerrar, in the affirmative.
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abran, cierren
- Say "Tell it to me" and "Don't tell it to me" (informal).
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The pronouns attach in the affirmative with an accent, and go before in the negative. Dímelo. No me lo digas.
- Say "Wake up early, but do not get up late" (informal).
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Two reflexive commands, one in each polarity. Despiértate temprano, pero no te levantes tarde.
- Find and fix the errors: Hablas más despacio. No hablas tan rápido. Me lo da, por favor.
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Affirmative tú is habla, negative tú needs the opposite vowel, and the affirmative command attaches the pronouns. Habla más despacio. No hables tan rápido. Dámelo, por favor.
- Explain why busque has qu and busco has c.
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The c before e would sound like s, so the spelling changes to qu to keep the k sound. Busque has qu to keep the sound.
- Write four commands for a new student in your class: two affirmative and two negative, informal.
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One correct answer: Siéntate aquí. Pregúntame si tienes dudas. No llegues tarde. No olvides tu libro. Siéntate aquí. Pregúntame si tienes dudas. No llegues tarde. No olvides tu libro.