Affirmative Commands

Kurz erklärt

Affirmative commands tell someone what to do. Spanish uses different command forms depending on whether you address someone as tú, usted, or ustedes. The subject pronoun is normally omitted: ¡Escucha! means “Listen!”

Bildung

For regular tú commands, use the él/ella form of the present tense: hablar → habla, comer → come, escribir → escribe. Common irregular tú forms include di, haz, ve, pon, sal, sé, ten, and ven. For usted and ustedes, use forms such as hable/hablen, coma/coman, and escriba/escriban.

Verwendung

• Use tú forms with one person you address informally.
• Use usted for one person addressed formally and ustedes for two or more people.
• Attach object and reflexive pronouns to an affirmative command: dime, siéntese, escríbanme. A written accent may be needed to preserve the original stress.

Beispiele

• Abre la ventana, por favor. — Open the window, please.
• Dime la verdad. — Tell me the truth.
• Pase, por favor. — Come in, please.
• Escriban sus nombres aquí. — Write your names here.

Typischer Fehler

❌ ¡Hablas más despacio!

✅ ¡Habla más despacio!

For an affirmative tú command, use habla, not the present-tense tú form hablas.

Merke

For regular verbs, the affirmative tú command looks like the él/ella present-tense form. Latin American Spanish uses ustedes, not vosotros, for plural commands.