Spanish Commands How do I tell someone what to do in Spanish? ¿?

Spanish Command

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Spanish Command

s

How do I tell someone what

to do in Spanish?

How do I tell someone what

to do in Spanish?¿?¿?

In English, it’s easy to give a command to someone.•Stand up!

•Sit down!

•Do your homework!

•Clean your room!

We simply use the base verb form without the subject.

(With commands, the subject is always an understood “you.”)

•Be careful.

•Drive slowly.

•Don’t touch that!

•Hurry up.

In Spanish, commands are slightly more challenging because there are so many ways to say “You”

• Tú – you familiar, singular

•Usted – you formal, singular

•Vosotros – you familiar, plural

•Ustedes – you formal, plural

We will look at all four versions of Spanish Commands.

First, we’ll begin with

Tú: “you”, familiar, singularMore specifically, we will look at

positive tú commandstelling someone what to do

(as opposed to negative, what not to do.)

Positive Tú Commands:Positive Tú Commands:

Positive tú commands are the easiest of all the commands to learn.

You’ve actually already learned them!

Positive tú commands are formed by saying the 3rd person singular of the verb to the person of whom you are giving the command.

Positive Tú Commands:Positive Tú Commands:

¿?That’s right. Even though our subject is “tú” when giving a command, we use the 3rd person singular of the verb to address our peers or subordinates.

Let’s try it withComer

Positive Tú Commands:Positive Tú Commands:

Comer - to eatComer - to eat

comocomescome

comemos

coméis

comen

Positive Tú Commands:Positive Tú Commands:como

comemos

comes coméis

come comencome

is the 3rd person singular of the verb.

We will now use come as a command in our sentence.

Positive Tú Commands:Positive Tú Commands:

•Come tu cena. Eat your dinner.

•¡Come más rápida! Eat faster!

It is understood that the person to whom you are speaking is the subject of the sentence.

Therefore, it is not necessary to begin the sentence with “Tú.”

[Tú] Come las verduras.

Positive Tú Commands:Positive Tú Commands:

El Vocabulario:El Vocabulario:• Barrer el piso - To sweep the floor

•Cortar el césped - To cut the grass

•Hacer la limpieza - To do the cleaning

•Lavar los platos - To wash the dishes

El Vocabulario:El Vocabulario:

•Limpiar el cuarto - To clean the room

•Pasar la aspiradora - To vacuum

•Planchar - To iron

•Quitar el polvo - To dust

•Sacar la basura - To take out the trash

What is the command for

“Vacuum the floor, please.”

“Pasa la aspiradora, por favor.”

What is the command for

“Cut the grass, please.”

“Corta el césped, por favor.”

What is the command for

“Iron the clothes, please.”

“Plancha la ropa, por favor.”

What is the command for

“Take out the trash, please.”

“Saca la basura, por favor.”

What is the command for

“Wash the dishes, please.”

“Lava los platos, por favor.”

Some irregulars:Some irregulars:There are few irregular verbs that do not take on the 3rd person singular of the verb. They are:

• Ser - Sé

• Ir - Ve

• Hacer - Haz

• Decir - Di

• Poner - Pon

• Salir - Sal

• Tener - Ten

• Venir - Ven

Decir – To tell(+) Tú Command: Di

Di la verdad.

-Tell the truth.

Salir – To leave(+) Tú Command: Sal

Sal a las diez.

-Leave at 10:00.

Poner – To put/place(+) Tú Command: Pon

Pon la mesa.

-Set the table.

PronounPlacement

Rules

PronounPlacement

Rules

Pronoun PlacementRules

For Commands:

Pronouns: me, te, nos, os, lo/la,

los/las, le, les, se#1 – Affirmative Commands – After & Attached to the verb

#2 – Negative Commands – Before the verb

Let’s try LEVANTARSE

Since our subject is understood to be “tú” our Reflexive Pronoun will be:

teteNow conjugate the Positive Tú

Command Levantar:

levantalevanta

Let’s try LEVANTARSE

Since our command is affirmative, attached the pronoun to the end of the verb.

tete

levantalevanta

Finally, since you added a syllable, add an accent to preserve the pronunciation.

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