L’impératif - Imperative
An imperative is a form of the verb used to give orders and instructions
Example :
| Ferme la porte ! | - | Close the door! |
| Faites votre devoir! | - | Please do your homework! |
| Allons-y! | - | Lets go! |
In French, there are three forms of imperative.
Informal way - (Tu)
| Ferme la porte ! | - | Close the door! |
Formal way - (Vous)
| Faites votre devoir! | - | Please do your homework! |
Including ourselves in the order – (Nous)
| Allons-y! | - | Lets go! |
Similar to the English let’s + infinitive.
For regular verbs, the imperative is the exactly same as the present tense conjugation of (tu, nous and vous) , except that you exclude the pronouns tu, nous and vous. In the “tu” form of -er verbs like manger, you need to take out the “s” at the end is .
Example :
| Manger | - | Mange ! |
| Finir | - | Finis ! ( Je finis – The ‘s’ is already inbuilt in the first person, so no need to remove the ‘s’ in the imperative form) |
Example :
| Donner | - | Donnons ! |
| finir | - | Finissons ! |
| Faire | - | Faisons ! |
Example :
| Manger | - | Mangez ! |
| Finir | - | Finissez ! |
| Faire | - | Faites ! |
Example :
Patientez, monsieur !
Asseyez-vous s’il vous plait !
Reflexive Verbs
We conjugate the verb followed by a reflexive stress pronoun (toi, vous, nous) when it comes to imperative with a reflexive verb
Example :
Lève-toi!
Levons-nous!
Levez-vous
When it comes to negative form, the reflexive pronoun is unstressed: after the ne and before the verb.
Example :
Ne te lève pas !
Ne nous levons pas !
Exceptions
Verbs with irregular imperative form.
| aller | va, allons, allez |
| avoir | aie, ayons, ayez |
| être | sois, soyons, soyez |
| savoir | sache, sachons, sachez |
| vouloir | veuille, veuillons, veuillez |
If y comes after an imperative that ends with a vowel, we include an s
Example :
Vas-y !