Commands: Beyond Affirmative Tú
You have learned how to make both regular and irregular “affirmative tú” commands. Use these to
express a command to one person at a time with
whom you have a “tú” relationship. There are other
situations that require different types of commands.
1. To make a command or request to that same
person, but saying “not” to do something.
The “affirmative tú” command won’t work
here.
2. To make a command or request to somebody in the “usted” form.
3. To make a command or request to more than
one person.
For the third type, there are commands in both the
“ustedes” and the “vosotros” forms. We will study
only the “ustedes” form and use them for all situations when we need to address more than one person.
How it’s done
These types of commands use a new verb tense
called the subjunctive tense. Most are formed by
the following steps.
1. Start with the present tense “yo” form of the
verb.
2. Remove the “o” from that word.
3. Add an “opposite vowel ending.”
The “opposite vowel endings” are:
For AR Verbs (example: hablar)
negative tú : es - no hables
usted: e - hable
ustedes: en - hablen
For ER & IR Verbs (examples: comer, vivir)
negative tú : as - no comas, no vivas
usted: a - coma, viva
ustedes: an - coman, vivan
Keep in mind you are starting with the “yo” form of
the verb that you are using. If it is a stem change,
keep that stem change.
poder (yo puedo) = no puedas, pueda, puedan
pedir (yo pido) = no pidas, pida, pidan
Do the same if the verb is an “irregular yo.”
decir (yo digo) = no digas, diga, digan
salir (yo salgo) = no salgas, salga, salgan
See if you can do oír.
oír (yo oigo) = ___________________________
Spell Changes
Remember, in Spanish you say what you spell and
spell what you say. You’ll need to make some spelling changes to retain the sounds you are saying.
Example: buscar
You would first want to write “busce,” but that eliminates the “hard c” sound.
Change it to busque.
no busques, busque, busquen
Example: llegar
You would first want to write “llege,” but that eliminates the “hard g” sound.
Change it to llegue.
no llegues, llegue, lleguen
Example: empezar
You would first want to write “empieze” (remember the stem change), but you can’t follow z with an
e.
Change it to empiece.
no empieces, empiece, empiecen
Negative Commands
The forms presented here are the forms needed
for all negative commands. Just put the word “no”
in front of the command.
•Juana, no leas ahora. Juana, don’t read now.
(Negative tú)
•No abra la puerta, señor. Don’t open the door,
sir. (Negative usted)
•Ustedes no hablen. Don’t talk. (Negative
ustedes)
Time to Practice
Cite the command forms for the following verbs. The affirmative tú form that you learned previously is
included. For the three we just learned, remember to go to the “yo” form, remove the o and add the appropriate endings.
Affirmative tú
Negative tú
Usted
Ustedes
traer
________________
________________
________________
________________
beber
________________ ________________
________________
________________
andar
________________
________________
________________
________________
poner
________________
________________
________________
________________
sacar
________________
________________
________________
________________
conocer
________________ ________________
________________
________________
venir
________________ ________________
________________
________________
conducir
________________
________________
________________
________________
pagar
________________
________________
________________
________________
producir
________________
________________
________________
________________
reír
________________
________________
________________
________________
comenzar
________________
________________
________________
________________
Commands formed using irregular subjunctive verbs
These verbs are irregular in the subjunctive tense, so their commands will be irregular as well. They are
presented in this order:
negative tú, usted, and ustedes.
dar = no des, dé, den
estar = no estés, esté, estén
haber = no hayas, haya, hayan
ir = no vayas, vaya, vayan
saber = no sepas, sepa, sepan
ser = no seas, sea, sean