Other French verb formsThe imperative - giving instructions in French

Forming the imperative

The imperative is used to order or instruct someone to do something. For example:

• Tournez à droite. – Turn right.
• Ferme la porte. – Close the door.

The imperative is only used in the tu, vous and nous forms. It is usually formed using the present tense of the verb.

For the imperative tu form of regular -er verbs, remove the -s from the present tense verb. For example:

• Tu manges becomes mange (eat).

To add a pronoun, eg to say ‘eat it’ or ‘call her’, use a hyphen and place the pronoun after the imperative. For example:

• Mange-le (Eat it – in the tu form)
• Appelez-la (Call her – in the vous form)
• Regardons-les (Let’s watch them)

With reflexive verbs in an imperative, the reflexive pronoun is still needed, but tu becomes toi and the reflexive pronoun goes after the verb with a hyphen. For example:

• tu te lèves becomes lève-toi (get up)
• vous vous levez becomes levez-vous (get up)
• nous nous levons becomes levons-nous (let’s get up)

Some verbs are irregular in the imperative. For example:

• être (to be) becomes sois, soyez and soyons
• avoir (to have) becomes aie, ayez and ayons
• savoir (to know) becomes sache, sachez and sachons

With a negative imperative, the ne and pas/jamais/que, etc go either side of the verb. For example:

• Ne mangez pas trop de chocolat. – Don’t eat too much chocolate.