Imperatives: Commands & Instructions

Level A1 · Sentence Basics

The imperative gives a command, an instruction, a request, or a warning by using the bare base form of the verb, with no subject stated — you is understood but never spoken: Close the door. Sit down. Be quiet. Because the subject disappears, an imperative sentence typically opens directly with the verb itself, which is the clearest sign you are looking at one rather than a statement.

The main patterns:

• Affirmative imperative = base verb, no subject: Open the window. Take a seat.
• Negative imperative = Don't + base verb: Don't be late. Don't touch that.
• Let's + base verb makes a suggestion that includes the speaker (we): Let's go to the beach. Let's not argue about this (negative form).
• Please softens the tone without changing the grammar: Please sit down / Sit down, please. Adding do before the verb makes it emphatic, for insistence: Do come in! Do be careful!
• With be, the imperative uses be directly, not are or is, since it is still the base form: Be careful (though You be careful does exist informally, to single someone out).

The most common mistake is adding a subject pronoun or using a conjugated verb instead of the bare base form: You close the door or You must close the door sound like a statement, not a direct instruction. The natural imperative drops the subject entirely: Close the door. A second frequent error is misplacing the negation: Close not the door is wrong. Negative imperatives always put don't before the base verb: Don't close the door.

Look for a sentence with no stated subject that opens directly with a base-form verb — or with Don't + base verb, or Let's + base verb — that shape is the signature of an imperative. The context is usually a direct instruction, a request, a warning, or a suggestion, and the sentence often (though not always) ends with an exclamation mark.

Practice

Affirmative & Negative Imperatives · Let's & Common Mistakes