Spanish Commands: Tú Forms, Negatives and Attached Pronouns

01 / Understand

Choose the addressee and purpose

A command can give an instruction, invitation, warning, or piece of advice. Its social effect depends on the relationship and situation, not just the verb ending. This lesson’s familiar singular commands use tú. Many regions use vos with different forms, and respectful usted uses another pattern; those are not mistakes to be corrected into tú everywhere. State the addressee when practicing so the target is clear. The subject pronoun is usually omitted because the command addresses the listener directly. Por favor can soften the wording, but it does not make every large demand considerate. Decide what action you want and how directly the situation calls for expressing it.

02 / Understand

Build regular affirmative tú commands

For regular verbs, the affirmative tú command matches the third person singular present form: habla, come, and vive. This is a useful form relationship, not a change in who is addressed. The command still addresses the listener as tú. Present stem changes remain in commands such as cierra or vuelve. Do not build the command by simply keeping the ordinary tú present form ending in s. Work from a known verb family and check whether the verb belongs to the common irregular command set. In a practical instruction, include the object or destination when the action alone would leave the listener unsure what to do.

03 / Understand

Retrieve the frequent irregular commands

Several common affirmative familiar commands are short irregular forms: di, haz, ve, pon, sal, sé, ten, and ven. They come from decir, hacer, ir, poner, salir, ser, tener, and venir: say, do, go, put, leave, be, have, and come. Learn them in useful instructions rather than assuming a regular ending will work. The accent on sé, the command of ser, distinguishes it from the pronoun se. The form ve can also be the command of ver, “see,” so context identifies the verb. These shared spellings are a reason to read the whole instruction. When you later negate an irregular affirmative command, you must still select the appropriate subjunctive form instead of merely adding no.

04 / Understand

Use the subjunctive for a negative command

An ordinary negative tú command uses no followed by a present subjunctive form. Regular ar verbs use the es ending, while regular er and ir verbs use as. The negative is therefore not built by placing no before the affirmative command, and some stems and spellings change as well. A useful pair is habla and no hables. Keeping both sides of the pair together makes the contrast visible. The subject is still the listener, even though the form differs. This lesson concentrates on the familiar singular pattern; broader subjunctive uses and other command persons require their own agreement choices.

05 / Understand

Attach an object to the positive command

In an affirmative command, an unstressed object pronoun is written attached to the verb. The combined word follows ordinary accentuation rules, which may require a new accent to keep the original stressed syllable. The pronoun still reflects the object, not the addressee. In look at it, the understood you is the person receiving the instruction, while it is the thing looked at. Identify those roles before selecting the pronoun. When two object pronouns are attached, keep their correct order and the se replacement of le or les before a third person direct object. Do not insert spaces or a French style hyphen inside the Spanish attached word.

06 / Understand

Move the object before a negative command

A negative command places the pronoun before the subjunctive verb. No precedes the entire group. A reflexive pronoun follows the same placement contrast: levántate becomes no te levantes. In both, te refers to the same listener; only its written position differs. Unlike French, the pronoun does not change to a stressed form just because it follows a positive command. Practice transforming the whole instruction instead of editing one word at a time. You need to change both the verb form and the pronoun placement while preserving the requested person and object.

Use the positive and negative versions of the same practical instruction as a pair. Starting from Abre la caja, first replace the named object: ábrela. Then prohibit the action: no la abras. Three things must remain coordinated: the intended object, the command form, and the pronoun’s position. Checking only the spelling of the attached version can miss the larger construction change needed in the negative.

07 / Understand

Select a request when a command is too direct

You can ask for action through a question with the modal verb poder, “can,” and an infinitive rather than a direct imperative. An object pronoun can attach to the end of that infinitive, or it can go before the form of poder. Respectful commands such as espere use forms different from familiar espera, so make the address choice deliberately. The difference is not a universal ranking of good and bad manners: a recipe, an urgent warning, and a favor between strangers have different expectations. In the challenge, the cue names the requested construction. In your own production, explain why that construction fits the relationship and task. This makes grammatical control useful for a real exchange rather than a collection of isolated orders.

Notice the difference

Common mistakes

From understanding to using

Make your own example.

Try these without answer choices. Say your answer aloud or write it below, then compare your reasoning with the model.