Tú Commands:

Affirmative and Negative

Español II
 Forming affirmative tú commands
 To form the tú commands, simply use the él/ella/Ud.
form of the verb in the present tense.
› Speak! ¡Habla!
› Run! ¡Corre!
› Walk! ¡Camina!
› Study! ¡Estudia!
› Look! ¡Mira!
 Irregular affirmative tú commands
 There are eight verbs with irregular affirmative tú
command forms. These must be memorized.
› decir (to say/tell): di
› hacer (to do/make): haz
› ir (to go): ve
› poner (to put/place): pon
› salir (to leave/go out): sal
› ser (to be): sé
› tener (to have): ten
› venir (to come): ven
 Affirmative tú commands
for reflexive verbs
 For reflexive verbs, we attach the reflexive
pronouns to the end of the command, adding an
accent mark. We place the marks on what was
the next-to-the-last syllable before we added the
pronoun.
› Stand up! ¡Levántate!
› Go away! ¡Vete!
› Sit down! ¡Siéntate!
› Wake up! ¡Despiértate!
 Forming negative tú commands
The negative of tú commands is formed using the
following formula:
No + yo form of the verb + opposite vowel + s
› Don’t speak! ¡No hables!
› Don’t run! ¡No corras!
› Don’t walk! ¡No camines!
› Don’t study! ¡No estudies!
› Don’t come! ¡No vengas!
› Don’t drive! ¡No conduzcas!
 Note: If the “yo” form of the verb is irregular, the negative tú
command for that verb will also be irregular. Stem-changing
verbs will also change in the negative forms.
 Negative tú commands
for reflexive verbs
 Reflexive verbs use the same formula; however,
the reflexive pronoun is placed between the “no”
and the command form.
› Don’t stand up! ¡No te levantes!
› Don’t go (away)! ¡No te vayas!
› Don’t sit down! ¡No te sientas!
› Don’t fall asleep! ¡No te duermas!
 Irregular negative tú commands

 There are five verbs with irregular negative tú

commands forms. These must be memorized.
 dar (to give): no des
 estar (to be): no estés
 ir (to go): no vayas
 saber (to know): no sepas
 ser (to be): no seas
 Spelling changes (-car and -gar
verbs)
 Some spelling changes occur to preserve the
sound of the infinitives of the verbs used.
 In -car verbs, the c changes to qu. In -gar verbs,
the g changes to gu.
› JUGAR: Don’t play! ¡No juegues!
› BUSCAR: Don’t look for…! ¡No busques!
› PAGAR: Don’t pay! ¡No pagues!
› PRACTICAR: ¡No practiques!