Imperative present
The main characteristic of the imperative is to exist only to the following persons: "tu", "nous" and "vous" and this, without pronoun expressed. It allows you to express an order, give advice or make a suggestion.
In general, the imperative is identical to the present indicative except that it has no subject. The only rule in relation to the present is the disappearance of the final s of the second person for all verbs ending in an e (verb in "-er" including "aller" and some verbs in the third group as "to cueillir"). Except in front of "en" and "y" where we keep the "s" for a sound reason (see the grammar note on this subject).
- Cueille des fleurs!
- Va te coucher!
- Allons-y!
- Mangez des pommes!
| 1st group aimer | 2nd group bondir |
|---|---|
| aime | bondis |
| aimons | bondissons |
| aimez | bondissez |
3rd group | ||
|---|---|---|
| descendre | courir | s'inscrire |
| descends | cours | inscris-toi |
| descendons | courons | inscrivons-nous |
| descendez | courez | inscrivez-vous |
- The verbs conjugated to the imperative present are very close to the present of the indicative except "avoir", "être", "savoir" and "vouloir" which are formed based on the present subjunctive (eg: sois, sache)
- The main characteristic of verbs of the 2nd group is to have a -ss which appears between radical and the endings for the plural persons.
- Verbs of the 1st group (and also "ouvrir", "offrir", "souffrir", "cueillir", "aller" and "savoir") do not take the "s" as usual in the 2nd person of singular. They end only with e (ex: sach e). On the other hand, for sound reasons, we add a "s" when the verb is followed by "en" or "y" (eg: vas-y, cueilles-en).
- We place a hyphen between the verb to the imperative and the personal pronoun complement (eg: méfie-toi)
- Pay attention to the difference between the indicative and the imperative for the verbs of the 1 st group. To the imperative, we must end them with an e: "tu appelles mais appelle.".
- We have a hyphen with the complement pronoun: retenons-nous