Want to learn more about the imperative in Spanish? You are on the right place..Today we're going to learn about the imperative, el imperativo en español with a lot of exercises (ejercicios) and activities (actividades) .
The first thing that we need to know about the imperative in Spanish (el imperativo en español) is: When we use it?
The imperative it is a verbal form, like the indicative and like the subjunctive. The imperative is a form that we use when we want to give someone instructions and also to give commands. When we say the word "command", some people say, but what do you mean with a "commandx? Is it like when you're telling somebody what to do in a rude way? That creates sometimes confusion. Why is that???
Because imperative is a form that does not exist in English. Therefore, it's sometimes hard to understand, especially when you try to compare one language with another. Just don't do that. Learn this as a scratch, as something new, if it's the first time that you're listening. And let's learn together what is imperative. So, again, it's a verbal form that is used for give instructions or give command In Spanish. The imperative in Spanisj (el imperativo en español) has its own conjugation so it's not going to be the same conjugation of the indicative, but an imperative You will only conjugate it in the: Tu (You) of the singular and the Tu(You) of the plural.
Tu - You (singular)
Usted - You (singular and polite way)
Vosotros and Vosotras- You (plural informal used only in Spain)
Ustedes - You (plural polite in Spain but in the rest of Spanish speaking world is the only way to express You plural)
We're going to conjugate it with a verb ending in -AR:
ESTUDIAR
Estudia
Estudie
Estudiad
Estudien
Verb ending in -Er:
BEBER
Bebe
Beba
Bebed
Beban
Verb ending in -IR:
VIVIR
Vive
Viva
Vivid
Vivan
Now let's see some examples.
When we you use the imperative for instructions, for example, if I'm walking on the street and somebody asks me: ¿Cómo puedo llegar a la farmacia?
The responses would be:
Cruza la calle.
Gira a la derecha or gira a la izquierda.
In this case we are not giving a command, but an instruction. We are directing that people how to get to the pharmacy.
Let's move now to another form:when we use the imperative (el imperativo) to give command. In the school for example all the time the teacher used to tell us: Estudien!
It is a command in Spanish that tells you to study.
More examples:
Estudien para aprobar el examen.
Estudien español .
Also it is another way we use the imperative in Spanish (el imperativo en español) to give commands and we will clarify it with an example below.
For example, when it is someone older than you and as a sign of respect you let them walk in front of you:
Pase usted primero por favor.
Pase por favor.
Another case when we use imperative a lot as well is when we give instructions on the kitchen. For example, if I want to give you a recipe, a food recipe, you are usually going to do it using the imperative (el imperativo). For example, if I want to give you the recipe of my favorite dish, I will tell you:
Compra el pescado.
Lava el pescado.
Corta los limones.
Pica la cebolla .
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