LOS MANDATOS (Commands)

Formal Commands! Ten-Hut! In this presentation, you will learn about making commands in Spanish.

Commands in English… … are pretty easy. You just use a base verb form (without a subject, since it’s always “you”) to tell people what they should do: Stand up! Sit down! Do your homework! Take out the garbage! Be quiet!

Commands in English… … and what they shouldn’t do: Don’t write in your books! Don’t speak English in Spanish class! Don’t be silly!

Commands in Spanish… … are little more complicated because we have so many ways of saying “you”: Tú: informal, singular Vosotros: informal, plural Ud.: formal, singular Uds.: formal, plural However, we will concentrate on the formal commands only. (for Ud. and Uds.) So… we will have 2 forms only: singular and plural!

Let’s look at a few examples! Hable despacio, por favor. ¡Repita, por favor.! Siéntese Ud. aquí. Entreguen Uds. la tarea. Hagan el ejercicio B. No hagan el ejercicio A. ¡No se levante Ud.! ¡No corran en la clase!

FORMING SINGULAR UD. COMMANDS STEP 1: Go to the yo STEP 2: Drop the “o” STEP 3: Add the opposite ending

Hable despacio, por favor. The speaker is talking to one person (Ud.) Can you figure out how we got the form “hable”? Go to the “yo” form of the present: HABLO Drop the –o: HABL- Add the opposite ending (“Hablar” is an –AR verb, so add –E to form the command) HABLE

Repita, por favor. The speaker is talking to one person (Ud.) Can you figure out how we got the form “repita”? Go to the “yo” form of the present: REPITO Drop the –o: REPIT- Add the opposite ending (“Repetir” is an –IR verb, so add –A to form the command) REPITA

Another way to think about it… Think of the verb adding the “opposite vowel”: AR verbs add an –E. ER & IR verbs add an –A.

Let’s try a couple! Comer: ¡______ Ud.! ¡Coma Ud.! Escribir: ¡_____ Ud.! ¡Escriba Ud.! Tomar: ¡_____ Ud.! ¡Tome Ud.! Entregar: ¡_____ la tarea! ¡Entregue la tarea! Note the spelling change because of the final –g sound.

-Car, -Gar, -Zar Verbs Verbs that end in –car, -gar, and –zar require a spelling change to keep the original sound of the verb Ex: entregar  entregue comenzar  comience pescar  pesque

Uds… Entreguen Uds. la tarea. Right! Just add an –N to the command form when you are talking to more than one person (Uds.)

Let’s try a couple more! Comer: ¡______ Uds.! ¡Coman Uds.! Escribir: ¡_____ Uds.! ¡Escriban Uds.! Tomar: ¡_____ Uds.! ¡Tomen Uds.! Comenzar: ¡_____ el examen!

¡No! How do we make negative commands in Spanish? ¡No fume! ¡No tome café! ¡No coma tanto! Use the same procedure (to to yo, drop o, add opposite ending) Just add a NO BEFORE the command.

Commands with Reflexive Verbs What about reflexive verbs? In affirmative commands, all objects are attached to the end of the verb. Levante + se= Levántese Levanten + se= Levátense ¡Levántese! / ¡Siéntese!

Negative Commands with Reflexive Verbs What about reflexive verbs? In negative commands, all objects precede the verb. No se levante. No se levanten. No se siente. No se sienten. ¡No se levante! ¡No se siénte!

Some irregulars What would a lesson be without a few irregulars to make it interesting?? Can you guess where these forms come from? Haga la tarea. Tenga paciencia. Salga ahora. Vuelva a casa. Piense bien. ¡Sé bueno! ¡Esté tranquila!

¿Qué pasa? Haga la tarea. Hacer > yo hago > -o + -a Tenga paciencia. Tener > yo tengo > -o + -a Salga ahora. Salir > yo salgo > - o + -a Vuelva a casa. Volver > yo vuelvo > -o + -a Piense bien. Pensar > yo pienso > -o + -e These verbs follow the same formula: start with the yo form, drop the –o, and add the opposite vowel.

Sé, esté, dé, sepa, vaya These five verbs are very irregular for a good reason: Ser > yo soy Estar > yo estoy Dar > yo doy Saber > yo sé Ir > yo voy The yo form does not end in an –o, so there is no –o to drop when forming the command form.

Los Irregulares Ser= Sé Estar= Esté Dar=Dé Saber= Sepa Ir= vaya

Practice Translating: Give me the book! Go to the office! Be good! (use ser) Be there at six o’clock! (use estar) Know your vocabulary!

Check your answers Dé el libro. Vaya a la oficina. Sé bueno. Esté allí a las seis en punto. Sepa el vocabulario.