Imperative
The imperative (L’impératif) is commonly used in daily conversations. It is the equivalent of: do this, don’t do that, let’s do this, …
The Imperative is used in French in several contexts:
- to give commands /orders,
- to express interdiction, advice, invitation, or
- to express a wish.
How to easily form the imperative tense in French?
L’impératif is very similar to present tense, except that it is only used for the personal pronouns subjects tu,nous, and vous, and there is no subject.
| Present | Imperative |
| Tu manges des fruits. | ☞ Mange des fruits ! * |
| Tu vas dans ta chambre. | ☞ Va dans ta chambre ! |
| Tu ouvres la porte. | ☞ Ouvre la porte ! |
* Note: For the second person of singular tu, the verbs of the first group ending with ER, and those of the third group, there is no need to add an “s“. The same is applicable to the verb “aller” which is an irregular verb.
Forming the French Negative Imperative
The negative imperative French is just as easy. All you do is put the ne…pas around the verb.
☞ Ne parle pas ! Don’t speak!
☞ Ne finissez pas votre café ! Don’t finish your coffee!
Practice
Imperative in French with irregular verbs
Some verbs like avoir, être, aller, savoir, or vouloir are irregular and you need to know how to conjugate them by heart to be able to use them correctly. For example, this how the imperative tense will look like for these verbs :
| Avoir | aie, ayons ayez |
| Être | sois, soyons, soyez |
| Aller | va, allons, allez |
| Savoir | sache, sachons, sachez |
| Vouloir | veuille, veuillons, veuillez |
Practice
Imperative with reflexive verbs
With reflexive verbs, imperative mood is built like this
| verb + the reflexive pronoun (toi, nous or vous),separated by a hyphen. |
Note: that in the negative imperative form, we use the regular pronouns te, nous, or vous.
☞ Lève-toi tôt ! Get up early !
☞ Ne te lève pas tard ! Don’t get up late!
Place des pronoms compléments à l’impératif
| Parle-lui ! | Mangez-en ! |
| Regardez-le ! | Donnez-moi ce ticket ! |
☞ Ne lui parle pas.☞ Ne le regarde pas.
Practice