Spanish Grammar Commands Part 1
The verb is ‘disfrutar‘. It’s conjugated in the ‘Ud.’ form, but it is telling you what to do, so it is an affirmative, informal command. “Enjoy every moment“.
Post 345/365
Hola,
¡Muy buenos días!
En esta próxima sección de la gramática en el Spanish Blog 365, vamos a estudiar los mandatos – los ‘commands‘.
Practicaremos éstos esta semana y la próxima semana.
El plan:
Hoy – Qué son los mandatos y la forma de ‘tú’ afirmativo
Mañana – la forma de ‘tú’ negativo
jueves – las formas de ‘Ud.’ y ‘Uds.’
Hoy – Parte 1
1. ¿Qué es un mandato?
a. These are called ‘commands’ or ‘imperatives‘ in English or ‘mandatos’ o ‘imperativos‘ in Spanish.
b. The ‘imperative’ is a ‘mood‘ (one of 3), not a verb tense.
c. A command is when we tell someone what to do. It can be harsh, but it doesn’t have to be and it usually isn’t.
“Sit down” and “Shut up” are certainly harsh commands!
But, “Pass me the salt, please“. and “Let’s make a reservation at that hotel in Spain.” is not harsh!
d. For the most part, ‘imperatives‘ or ‘command‘ forms, follow the same conjugations as the ‘subjunctive‘. (there was a reason why we did the subjunctive first!)
e. We see commands being used everyday! in advertisement…and in our daily conversations.
f. Commands are in the ‘tú, Ud., Uds., and nosotros forms. (we don’t command ourselves so not in the ‘yo’ form) We’ll learn all 4 of these forms.
g. You’ll like these. They are great to know.
2. Tú form commands
a. These are the trickiest (in my opinion), so let’s start here first.
b. Tú form commands have a different conjugation depending on whether or not it’s an affirmative command or a negative command. The others (Ud., Uds., Nosotros) don’t.
3. Affirmative, tú form commands
How to conjugate them:
An informal, tú form command that is affirmative uses the ‘Ud.’ form of the verb conjugation. This includes irregular, stem’changing verbs as in the Photo: Piensa verde
Ejemplo:
a. Come más. – Eat more. – It’s a command. I’m telling you what to do. It’s in the tú form, but it looks like the Ud. conjugation.
b. Llega a las 8:00 – Arrive at 8:00. – It looks like the Ud. form of the verb, but since it is a command (I’m telling you what to do), it’s really an informal, tú form, command.
c. at the store you hear kids saying to their mom or their friend, ‘mira, mira‘ – look, look. They are speaking informally to them.
See how easy the conjugations are! Nothing new here!
But, it’s confusing because it just looks like the Ud. conjugation. It’s the subtle command or telling you what to do that indicates that this is the ‘tú’ form conjugation of the imperative.
¡Vamos a practicar! – Using the verb indicated, say it in the Ud. form to get the informal command
1. tomar – Take an aspirin.
2. escribir – Write your name.
3. escuchar – Listen to this song.
4. usar – Use this pen.
5. leer – Read this.
6. abrir – open the door.
7. llamar – Call now.
8. cantar – Sing with me.
9. mirar – Watch.
10. hablar – Speak Spanish.
Action steps: Do the ‘práctica‘ above. Check your answers below. Write 5 more on your own.
Déjame un comentario. Me gusta mucho oir de ti.
Gracias y hasta mañana,
Carolina
1. Toma una aspirina. – Take an aspirin.
2. Escribe tu nombre. – Write your name.
3. Escucha esta canción. – Listen to this song.
4. Usa esta pluma. – Use this pen.
5. Lee ésto. – Read this.
6. Abre la puerta. – open the door.
7. Llama ahora mismo. – Call now.
8. Canta conmigo. – Sing with me.
9. Mira. – Watch.
10. Habla español – Speak Spanish.
