Formal commands
description
Transcript of Formal commands
To tell someone you address as usted to do something, use formal commands.
To form them, replace the final -o of the yo form with -e for -ar verbs and -a for -er and -ir verbs.
comprar: yo compro
comer: yo como
abrir: yo abro
no compre (don’t buy) no coma (don’t
eat) no abra (don’t open)
compre (buy)
coma (eat)
abra (open)
Abra la ventana, por favor.Open the window, please.
Verbs ending in -car, -gar, -zar, -ger, and -guir have spelling changes in their formal command forms.
No llegue tarde. Don’t arrive late.
sacar: saque (take out) no saque (don’t take out)
llegar: llegue (arrive) no llegue (don’t arrive)
organizar:organice (organize)no organice(don’t organize)
recoger: recoja (pick up) no recoja (don’t pick up)
seguir (i):
siga (keep going)
no siga(don’t keep going)
To tell two or more people to do or not to do something, add -n to the formal command form.
Muchachos, abran la ventana, por favor.
Ramón y Alfredo, no vean tanta televisión.
Some verbs have irregular formal command forms.
usted ustedes
dar: (no) dé (no) den (don't) give
ser: (no) sea (no) sean (don't) be
ir: (no) vaya (no) vayan (don't) go
saber: (no) sepa (no) sepan(don’t) know
estar: (no) esté (no) estén (don’t) be
For positive commands: attach to end, add accent (count 3 vowels back): Levántese Levántense Cepíllese Cepíllense Lávese Lávense
For negative commands: pronoun goes before command: No se levante No se levanten
No se cepille No se cepillen No se lave No se laven