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1.28: Impératif

  • Page ID
    202742
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    The imperative (L’impératif) is commonly used in daily conversations. It is the equivalent of: do this, don’t do that, let’s do this, …

    The Imperative is used in French in several contexts:

    • to give commands /orders,
    • to express interdiction, advice, invitation, or
    • to express a wish.

    How to easily form the imperative tense in French?

    L’impératif is very similar to present tense, except that it is only used for the personal pronouns subjects tu,nous, and vous, and there is no subject.

    Present Imperative
    Tu manges des fruits. ☞ Mange des fruits ! *
    Tu vas dans ta chambre. ☞ Va dans ta chambre !
    Tu ouvres la porte. ☞ Ouvre la porte !

    * Note: For the second person of singular tu, the verbs of the first group ending with ER, and those of the third group, there is no need to add ans“. The same is applicable to the verb “aller” which is an irregular verb.

    Forming the French Negative Imperative

    The negative imperative French is just as easy. All you do is put the ne…pas around the verb.

    ☞ Ne parle pas ! Don’t speak!

    ☞ Ne finissez pas votre café ! Don’t finish your coffee!

    Practice

    Imperative in French with irregular verbs

    Some verbs like avoir, être, aller, savoir, or vouloir are irregular and you need to know how to conjugate them by heart to be able to use them correctly. For example, this how the imperative tense will look like for these verbs :

    Avoir aie, ayons ayez
    Être sois, soyons, soyez
    Aller va, allons, allez
    Savoir sache, sachons, sachez
    Vouloir veuille, veuillons, veuillez

    Practice

    Imperative with reflexive verbs

    With reflexive verbs, imperative mood is built like this

    verb + the reflexive pronoun (toi, nous or vous),separated by a hyphen.

    Note: that in the negative imperative form, we use the regular pronouns te, nous, or vous.

    ☞ Lève-toi tôt ! Get up early !

    ☞ Ne te lève pas tard ! Don’t get up late!

    Place des pronoms compléments à l’impératif

    Parle-lui ! Mangez-en !
    Regardez-le ! Donnez-moi ce ticket !
    Noter: « me » et « te » deviennent « moi » et « toi ».
    Écoutez-moi
    À noter : Il faut garder le « s » à la forme avec « tu » quand il est suivi des pronoms « y » ou « en » pour faire la liaison.
    Parles-en à ton médecin.
    Vas-y ce matin.
    À la forme négative, les pronoms compléments se placent avant le verbe et ne changent pas.

    Ne lui parle pas.Ne le regarde pas.

    Practice


    This page titled 1.28: Impératif is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Philippe Patto.

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