No Hables, No Comas - Negative Imperatives

Lesson 1 covered the affirmative imperative. This lesson covers its opposite — the negative imperative. The good news: if you've worked through Module 13, you already know this form. Spanish builds the entire negative imperative out of the present subjunctive you learned for opinions, hopes, and recommendations. No hables, no comas, no vayas, no os preocupéis. Same forms, new use.

The Rule — Negative Commands = Present Subjunctive

The full pattern across all subjects:

Subject	Affirmative	Negative
tú	habla	no hables
usted	hable	no hable
vosotros	hablad	no habléis
ustedes	hablen	no hablen

Notice that for usted and ustedes, the affirmative and negative are identical (both use the subjunctive). The only forms that change between affirmative and negative are tú and vosotros:

• Affirmative tú: habla → Negative tú: no hables
• Affirmative vosotros: hablad → Negative vosotros: no habléis

A side-by-side reference for the three regular conjugations:

Subject	hablar (-ar)	comer (-er)	vivir (-ir)
tú	no hables	no comas	no vivas
usted	no hable	no coma	no viva
vosotros	no habléis	no comáis	no viváis
ustedes	no hablen	no coman	no vivan

Three things to lock in:

1. The endings flip. -ar verbs use -er endings (no hables, no hablemos, no habléis). -er and -ir verbs use -ar endings (no comas, no vivas). Same yo-flip rule as Module 13.
2. The eight irregular tú affirmatives become regular subjunctives in the negative. Di → no digas. Haz → no hagas. Ven → no vengas. Ten → no tengas. The shortened irregulars from Lesson 1 only apply to the affirmative — the negative just uses the standard subjunctive.
3. The DISHES irregulars from M13 L2 carry over. No seas, no estés, no vayas, no des, no sepas, no haya.

Why No Hablas Is Wrong

A common learner mistake: defaulting to the present indicative for negative commands. No hablas, no comes, no vienes are not commands — they're statements ("you don't speak, you don't eat, you don't come"). To turn them into commands, you need the subjunctive: no hables, no comas, no vengas.

The Spanish ear hears the indicative form as a description, not an instruction. A native speaker would interpret no hablas conmigo as "you don't speak to me" (a complaint), not "don't speak to me" (a command). Use the subjunctive — no hables conmigo — to give the command meaning.

A small contrast set:

Indicative (statement)	Subjunctive (command)
No hablas conmigo. You don't speak to me.	No hables conmigo. Don't speak to me.
No vienes a la fiesta. You're not coming.	No vengas a la fiesta. Don't come.
No te preocupas por nada. You don't worry about anything.	No te preocupes. Don't worry.

High-Frequency Negative Imperatives

A short list of negative imperatives that show up daily in Spain:

Spanish	English
no te preocupes	don't worry
no me digas	don't tell me / no way
no te vayas	don't leave
no te muevas	don't move
no te enfades	don't get angry
no te olvides	don't forget
no te molestes	don't bother
no te quedes	don't stay
no me lo digas	don't tell me (with object pronoun)
no me lo cuentes	don't tell me about it
no os riáis	don't laugh (you all)
no os preocupéis	don't worry (you all)

A few of these in real sentences:

• No te preocupes, todo va bien. – Don't worry, everything's fine.
• No me digas que no vienes. – Don't tell me you're not coming.
• No te vayas todavía. – Don't leave yet.
• No te enfades, era una broma. – Don't get angry, it was a joke.
• No os olvidéis del cumpleaños de mamá. – Don't forget mum's birthday.

The reflexive te and os stay attached to the front of the negative imperative — the opposite of the affirmative form, where they attach behind (M14 L3 covers this in detail).

A Quick Look at Usted, Nosotros, Ustedes

For the formal subjects, both affirmative and negative use the subjunctive:

Subject	Affirmative	Negative
usted	hable	no hable
nosotros	hablemos	no hablemos
ustedes	hablen	no hablen

The nosotros form is the Spanish "let's." Hablemos ("let's speak"), vamos ("let's go"), comamos ("let's eat"), no vayamos ("let's not go"). In casual Spanish, vamos usually replaces vayamos — vamos al cine rather than vayamos al cine.

Two real examples for usted (formal):

• No se preocupe, señora. – Don't worry, ma'am.
• No salga sin paraguas. – Don't leave without an umbrella.

And for nosotros (let's not):

• No nos olvidemos de las llaves. – Let's not forget the keys.
• No salgamos tan tarde. – Let's not go out so late.

Practice

Words to Remember

Spanish	English
no hables	don't speak (tú)
no comas	don't eat (tú)
no escribas	don't write (tú)
no habléis	don't speak (vosotros)
no comáis	don't eat (vosotros)
no escribáis	don't write (vosotros)
no te preocupes	don't worry
no os preocupéis	don't worry (you all)
no me digas	don't tell me / no way
no te vayas	don't leave
no te muevas	don't move
no te enfades	don't get angry
no te olvides	don't forget
no te quedes	don't stay
no os riáis	don't laugh (you all)
no me lo digas	don't tell me
no salgas	don't go out
no vengas	don't come
no seas tonto	don't be silly
no tengas miedo	don't be afraid

Conversation

Mum sending the girls out

Mamá: No os olvidéis del paraguas. Don't forget the umbrella.

Lucía: Tranquila, mamá, no nos vamos a empapar. Don't worry, mum, we're not going to get soaked.

Mamá: Y no volváis muy tarde. And don't come back too late.

Reassuring a stressed friend

Carmen: Creo que voy a llegar tarde a la reunión. I think I'm going to be late for the meeting.

Diego: No te preocupes, yo aviso al jefe. Don't worry, I'll tell the boss.

Carmen: ¡Qué fuerte! No me digas que se ha enterado ya. No way! Don't tell me he already knows.

Telling a friend not to get angry

Pablo: Hoy no voy a poder ir a tu cena. I won't be able to come to your dinner today.

Marta: No te preocupes. Pero no te olvides del cumpleaños el sábado. Don't worry. But don't forget the birthday on Saturday.

Pablo: Tranquila, no me lo voy a perder. Don't worry, I'm not going to miss it.