Habla, Come, Escribe - Affirmative Imperatives

You've learned to ask for things politely (M12), to recommend (M13), and to express what you hope for (M13). This module teaches the third mood of Spanish: the imperativo (imperative). It's the verb mood for direct commands — habla, come, ven, dime — and Spaniards use it far more than English speakers expect. It's not rude; it's neutral. Pásame el pan, dime, ven aquí are normal among friends, family, and even strangers in the right context. This first lesson covers the affirmative half — telling someone to do something. Lesson 2 will cover the negative half.

The Affirmative Tú — Same as the Él/Ella Present

For regular verbs, the affirmative tú imperative is identical to the third person singular present indicative (the él/ella form):

Infinitive	Él/ella present	Tú imperative
hablar	habla	¡Habla!
comer	come	¡Come!
escribir	escribe	¡Escribe!
trabajar	trabaja	¡Trabaja!
beber	bebe	¡Bebe!
abrir	abre	¡Abre!

This is the same form whether the verb is regular or stem-changing. Stem changes happen in the imperative just like in the present:

Infinitive	Tú imperative
pensar (e→ie)	¡Piensa!
dormir (o→ue)	¡Duerme!
pedir (e→i)	¡Pide!
volver (o→ue)	¡Vuelve!
empezar (e→ie)	¡Empieza!

A few real examples:

Habla más despacio, por favor. – Speak more slowly, please.
Come algo antes de salir. – Eat something before going out.
Escribe tu nombre aquí. – Write your name here.
Piensa antes de contestar. – Think before answering.
Vuelve pronto. – Come back soon.

The Eight Irregular Tú Imperatives

Eight high-frequency verbs have shortened irregular tú imperatives. There is no shortcut — they have to be memorised. The mnemonic Vin Diesel has ten weapons doesn't quite work in Spanish, but the list is short enough to chant:

Infinitive	Tú imperative	Meaning
decir	di	say / tell
hacer	haz	do / make
ir	ve	go
poner	pon	put
salir	sal	leave / go out
ser	sé	be
tener	ten	have
venir	ven	come

Two notes on these eight:

Sé carries an accent to distinguish it from se (the reflexive pronoun). The accent isn't optional.
Ve is identical to the imperative of ver ("to see"). Context tells them apart, but in practice ve as a command almost always means "go."

A quick set of real-Spanish uses:

Dime una cosa. – Tell me one thing.
Haz lo que puedas. – Do what you can.
Ve al supermercado. – Go to the supermarket.
Pon la mesa. – Set the table.
Sal por la otra puerta. – Leave through the other door.
Sé paciente. – Be patient.
Ten cuidado. – Be careful. (literally have care)
Ven aquí. – Come here.

These eight cover an enormous percentage of Spanish commands. Dime, ven, haz, pon, ten in particular show up in every conversation.

The Vosotros Imperative — Drop the R, Add a D

The vosotros affirmative imperative is the easiest in the language. Take the infinitive, drop the final -r, and add -d:

Infinitive	Vosotros imperative
hablar	¡Hablad!
comer	¡Comed!
escribir	¡Escribid!
ir	¡Id!
venir	¡Venid!
salir	¡Salid!
traer	¡Traed!
poner	¡Poned!

There are no irregulars in this form. The rule is mechanical: drop -r, add -d. Even the famously irregular ir becomes id.

A handful of sentences:

Venid a comer. – Come and eat.
Hablad más despacio. – Speak more slowly.
Decidme la verdad. – Tell me the truth. (with attached pronoun — full treatment in Lesson 3)
Escuchad bien. – Listen carefully.

The vosotros imperative is one of the unmistakably Iberian features of Castilian Spanish. Latin Americans use ustedes instead and never produce the -d ending in a command. In Spain you hear it a hundred times a day in family WhatsApp groups and on TV: venid, traed, decidme, escuchad.

The Reflexive Vosotros Twist

When the vosotros imperative attaches the reflexive pronoun os, the d disappears:

Infinitive	Vosotros + os	English
sentarse	¡Sentaos!	Sit down (you all)
levantarse	¡Levantaos!	Get up (you all)
acostarse	¡Acostaos!	Go to bed (you all)
irse	¡Idos! / ¡Iros!	Get out / leave (you all)
callarse	¡Callaos!	Be quiet (you all)

Two notes on the reflexive form:

The -d drops because it would create an awkward -dos ending. Sentadòs simply doesn't sound right; sentaos does.
Irse is a special case. The "correct" form is idos, but iros is what Spaniards actually say. The Real Academia accepted iros as standard in 2010. Use iros in speech without guilt.

Other Subject Forms — A Recognise-Don't-Yet-Produce Note

For completeness: usted, nosotros, and ustedes commands all use the present subjunctive forms from M13:

Infinitive	Usted	Nosotros	Ustedes
hablar	hable	hablemos	hablen
comer	coma	comamos	coman
ir	vaya	vayamos	vayan

In Spain, usted and ustedes commands appear in formal writing, signs, and talking to elderly strangers. Nosotros commands appear as "let's" — vamos a la playa being the most common one. We'll cover them in Lesson 2 alongside the negatives.

Practice

Words to Remember

Spanish	English
habla	speak (tú)
come	eat (tú)
escribe	write (tú)
hablad	speak (vosotros)
comed	eat (vosotros)
escribid	write (vosotros)
di	say / tell
haz	do / make
ve	go
pon	put
sal	leave / go out
sé	be
ten	have
ven	come
pasa	come in / pass
sentaos	sit down (vosotros)
levantaos	get up (vosotros)
iros	get out (vosotros)
ten cuidado	be careful
sé paciente	be patient

Conversation

Family lunch at Mum's

Mamá: ¡Pasad, pasad! Sentaos en la mesa. Come in, come in! Sit down at the table.

Diego: Papá, dime una cosa: ¿qué hay de comer? Dad, tell me one thing: what's for lunch?

Papá: Cocido. Sé paciente, falta un poco. Stew. Be patient, there's a bit left.

Asking for a favour in the kitchen

María: Ven, prueba esto. Come, taste this.

Carmen: ¿Necesita sal? Does it need salt?

María: Dime tú. Y pon la mesa, anda. You tell me. And set the table, come on.

Telling a friend to be careful

Lucía: Sal por la otra puerta, que esta está rota. Go out the other door, this one's broken.

Javi: Vale, gracias. OK, thanks.

Lucía: Y ten cuidado con el escalón. And be careful of the step.

Cultural Note

The Spanish imperative isn't rude. This is the single most important register fact for English speakers learning Spanish. Pásame el pan at a family table isn't shorter for "could you please pass me the bread?" — it's the default. Adding por favor is fine; not adding it is also fine. Spanish carries politeness in the verb mood (M12 podrías, M13 es mejor que), not in the ratio of "please" to demands. A child who says papá, dame agua is being perfectly polite.

That said, two situations in Spain still favour softening: strangers and workplace hierarchy. Walk into a tienda and ¿me pones medio kilo de naranjas? (third person, M6) sounds friendlier than ponme medio kilo (raw imperative). But ponme una caña to the bartender of your local bar after five years is fine — it's affectionate.

The vosotros imperative is one of the few things in this course that only exists in Spain. Every Spanish family has a parent who shouts venid a comer across the flat, an elder who says sentaos, a teacher who tells the class escuchad bien. Memorise the rule (drop -r, add -d) and produce it deliberately for the first month — it'll feel slightly performative, then it will lock in. The reflexive twist (sentaos, levantaos, iros) is the small final test. Once you can say venid e iros tranquilos without flinching, the Castilian command system is yours.

A small note on ve vs. ven: every learner mixes these up at first. Ven is "come" (toward me); ve is "go" (away from me). When you're at home and your friend is across town, ven if you want them at your place, ve if you want them to leave. The Spaniards in your life will not correct you on this, but they'll picture the wrong scene for half a second.