Spanish Commands: Positive, Negative, and Usted/Ustedes Forms

1. ~~~~~~~~~~~~Gramática: ¡Mandatos! (commands) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ • Positive “tú” / informal commands • Commands are used when ordering, or telling someone to do something. This is often referred to as the "imperative" form of the verb. In Spanish, a “tú” command is for someone with whom you are familiar (family, friends, peers, etc). • Affirmative /Positive “tú” commands tell the person to do something. • As you may remember, regular affirmative tú commands are formed by taking the _____________________form of the verb. • (hablar - ar + a = habla)(comer - er + e = come)(escribir - ir + e = escribe) • Examples: • Compra (tú) el anillo. Come (tú) la papa. Escribe (tú) la carta.(You) Buy the ring. (You) eat the potato. (You) Write the letter.

2. To form a Affirmative (positive) Tú command (as in, YES, DO this!): • Use the él/ella/usted form of the present tense! • Present Tense:  • Juan collects ​and ​recycles ​thecans = Juan ​recoge ​y ​recicla ​las latas. ​​ • ​Juan, ¡recoge y ​recicla ​las latas, por favor! ​​ • Juan, collect ​and ​recycle ​the cans, please! ​​

3. Try these! • 1.Collaborate with your group! _____________________________________ • 2. Learn quickly. _________________________________ • 3. Lend me your pen! _________________________________

4. Irregular Affirmative Tú Commands : • You still use these commands when you are telling a person to do something. The difference is that these verbs don’t follow the regular rules above. These irregular rules must be memorized.

5. Be careful! _______________________________ • Be good. _________________________________ • Come to my house. ________________________________ • Tell the truth. _______________________________ • Set the table. ______________________________ • Go to your room! ____________________________________ • Leave from here! _______________________________________ • Do the homework. _________________________________

6. Negative Túcommands: (No! Don’t do it!) • When you want to tell someone NOT to do something, use a negative command. • Negative tú commands are formed by taking the _________ form of the present tense, dropping the _________, and adding the opposite “tú” ending. • If you start with an –AR verb, use the –ER/-IR verb ending for “tú.” • HABLAR -> Hablo -> Habl -> Hables. • Final = __________________= don’ttalk. • If you start with an –ER or –IR verb, take the AR verb ending for “tú.” • ESCRIBIR-> Escribo -> Escrib -> escribas. • Final = _____________________ = don’twrite. • If the yo form is irregular, the same rule applies. • Tener -> tengo -> teng -> Tengas. Final = _____________________ =don’t be scared.

7. Don’t eat the cake. ____________________________ • Don’t throw trash in the street. ____________________________________ • Don’t return to the school. _____________________________________ • Don’t buy the boots. _________________________________________ • Don’t repeat the question. _____________________________________ • Don’t solicit here. ______________________________________ • Don’t do all the homework. ______________________________________

8. Irregular Negative Tú Commands : • Some verbs have irregular forms for negative tú commands. None of the yo forms here end in yo, which is why they have special forms. Can you guess which infinitive goes with each command below?

9. Don’t be bad. _________________________________ • Don’t go! (irse)________________________________ • Don’t be sad. _______________________________ • Don’t give him my number! (Don’t give my number to him!) _______________________________________

10. Commanding with more respect : Usted commands! • It is very important to be polite when traveling to other countries. When addressing people, you may need to suggest that they do something, but it needs to sound polite. There is an easy way to do this in Spanish: you use a formal command.

11. The Usted/ formal command is formed by taking the YO form of the verb, dropping the O and adding the opposite ending in the present-tense, third person singular: • For –AR verbs, drop the O and add E. Ex: Hablar  Hablo _________________ • For –ER / -IR verbs, dropthe O and add A. Ex: Comer  Como  _________________ • Ejemplo: Señor Chavez, por favor entre el museo. • Mr. Chavez, please enter the museum. • Ejemplo: No coma el pastel. • Do not eat the cake. • To make these negative, just add “no” before the command.

12. The Ustedes Command (plural) is formed by • taking the YO form of the verb, dropping the O, and adding the opposite ending in the present-tense, third person plural (they ending): • For –AR verbs, drop the O and add EN. Ex: Hablar  Hablo  ______________________ • For –ER / -IR verbs, dropthe O and add AN. Ex: Comer  Como ______________________ • Come in, all of you. = Pasenustedes. • Look, everyone! ¡ ______________________, todos! • Do the work! ¡ ______________________ el trabajo!

14. Obviamente hay irregulares

15. Nosotros Commands: “Let’s….” • Nosotros commands express the idea of “let’s” do something. The speaker is included. To form these, you take the yo form and add the opposite “nosotros” ending (This is the nosotros form of the present subjunctive also!). This goes for irregular “yo” forms as well. • ComercomocomamosComamosaquí. = Let’s eat here. • Compremos leche. = Let’sbuymilk. • Poner  pongo  Pongamos la mesa. Let’s set the table.

16. NOTE: -AR and -ER verbs do not stem-change in the nosotros, so you do not change them in the nosotros commands. • Pensaris e – ie but becomes pensemos • volver is o- ue but becomes volvamos -IR verbs DO stem-change in the nosotros: • either to –i or to –u : pidamos, durmamos

17. Ex: Contemos el dinero = Let’scountthemoney. (Notice that, although “contar” is a stem-changer, it does not change in the nosotros command form.) • To make a nosotros command negative, just add a “no” before it! • Let’s not eat here. = _____________________________ • Let’s not do the homework = _____________________________

18. Verbs that end in –car, -gar, -zar are going to stem-change (or really, change endings/roots?) • Tocar  toquemos, Pagar  paguemos, Almorzar  almorcemos

19. 5 irregulars in nosotros commands:

20. *You can also get the meaning “let’s” do something by using “Vamos a” but this can also mean “we are going to talk.” So to be clear, it’s best to use the nosotros command forms. • Try these! • Let’s do a project. ________________________________________ • Let’s not go to the store. ___________________________________ • Let’s look for new clothes. ________________________________________ • Let’s not cook dinner. ________________________________________ • Let’s order food to go (para llevar). ________________________________________