Everyday commands and requests

In brief

Use the imperative to ask someone to do something, give directions, or tell them not to do something. In Brazilian Portuguese, requests addressed to você often use forms such as fale, abra, and espere. Add por favor to make a request more polite.

Form

For regular verbs addressed to você: falar → fale, comer → coma, abrir → abra. For a negative command, put não before the same form: não fale, não coma, não abra. Some useful irregular forms are fazer → faça and ir → vá.

Usage

• Use a short command for everyday directions or instructions.
• Add por favor when asking someone for help.
• Put não before the verb to tell someone not to do something.

Examples

• Abra a porta, por favor. — Open the door, please.
• Espere aqui um momento. — Wait here a moment.
• Não fale tão rápido, por favor. — Please don’t speak so fast.
• Vá até a farmácia. — Go to the pharmacy.

Common mistake

❌ Faça não isso.

✅ Não faça isso.

In a negative command, place não before the verb, even though English puts ‘not’ after ‘do’.

Remember

For requests to você, use abra rather than the dictionary form abrir. Negative commands place não before the verb.