The Imperative

What the imperative is for

The imperative is the form you use to tell someone to do something: give an instruction, make a request, offer help or invite someone. You hear it everywhere at A1 level, from a teacher saying "Lesen Sie den Text" to a friend saying "Komm mit!".

German has three imperative forms, because German has three ways of saying "you": du (one person, informal), ihr (several people, informal) and Sie (formal, one or more people). The verb form changes depending on which "you" you are talking to. Adding bitte (please) makes any imperative polite and friendly.

In all three forms, the verb stands at the very beginning of the sentence. That start position is the signal that you are giving an instruction rather than making a statement. An exclamation mark is common in writing, but a simple full stop is fine for calm requests.

• Komm mit!

  Come along!

  du form, to a friend

• Kommt mit!

  Come along!

  ihr form, to several friends

• Kommen Sie bitte mit!

  Please come along!

  Sie form, formal

The du form: drop -st and drop the pronoun

To build the du imperative, take the present tense du form, remove the ending -st and remove the pronoun du. From du kommst you get Komm!, from du trinkst you get Trink!

Verbs that change e to i or ie in the du form keep that change in the imperative: du liest becomes Lies!, du nimmst becomes Nimm!, du isst becomes Iss! But verbs that add an umlaut in the du form, like fahren (du fährst), lose the umlaut in the imperative: the correct form is Fahr!, not "Fähr!".

With some verbs you may see an extra -e (Komme!), but at A1 the short form without -e is the normal, natural choice for almost all verbs. Verbs whose stem ends in -t or -d, like arbeiten, do keep the -e: Arbeite!

• Trink mehr Wasser!

  Drink more water!

• Lies den Text!

  Read the text!

  e changes to ie, as in du liest

• Nimm den Bus!

  Take the bus!

• Fahr langsam!

  Drive slowly!

  no umlaut, although the du form is du fährst

The ihr form and the Sie form

The ihr imperative is the easiest one: it is exactly the normal present tense ihr form, just without the pronoun. From ihr kommt you get Kommt!, from ihr wartet you get Wartet!

The Sie imperative uses the infinitive plus Sie, and here the pronoun stays in the sentence, directly after the verb: Kommen Sie! Warten Sie bitte! This is the form for teachers, officials, doctors, shop staff and anyone you address formally. You will use it constantly at appointments and offices, so practise it well. When in doubt about which form to choose, the Sie form is always the safe, polite option with adults you do not know.

• Wartet hier, Kinder!

  Wait here, children!

  ihr form

• Öffnet die Bücher!

  Open your books!

  ihr form

• Sprechen Sie bitte langsam!

  Please speak slowly!

  Sie form: verb + Sie

• Nehmen Sie Platz!

  Take a seat!

Polite requests and separable verbs

Two final points make your imperatives sound natural. First, bitte can stand at the start, in the middle or at the end of the sentence: Bitte warten Sie. Warten Sie bitte. Warten Sie, bitte. The middle position is the most common in speech.

Second, separable verbs behave in the imperative exactly as you learned in the last lesson: the prefix goes to the end. From aufstehen you get Steh auf! (du), Steht auf! (ihr) and Stehen Sie auf! (Sie). This combination of imperative plus separable verb is extremely common in everyday instructions.

Finally, listen for imperatives around you: exercises in your course book (Ergänzen Sie, Lesen Sie), signs (Drücken, Ziehen on doors) and announcements all use them. Recognising the imperative quickly is just as important at A1 as producing it, because exam instructions themselves are written in the Sie form.

• Steh auf! Es ist schon acht Uhr.

  Get up! It is already eight o'clock.

• Machen Sie bitte das Fenster zu.

  Please close the window.

  separable verb zumachen in the Sie form

• Ruf mich morgen an!

  Call me tomorrow!