The Imperative mood
- The Informal Imperative in Italian
- The Formal Imperative in Italian
Introduction to giving commands in Italian
If you have ever bossed someone around then you know what the imperative mood is. This form of the verb is used to give orders. So if you want to command people and get your way, learn the imperative! (See what I did there?)
If being bossy isn't your thing, then the imperative can also be used in much nicer ways, such as giving directions to someone who is lost or telling a friend how to make spaghetti alla carbonara – "add the pancetta to the cheesy-egg mixture!" That's not bossy, just good cookin'.
On a separate note, the imperative is often erroneously referred to as a tense. The imperative technically has one tense in Italian and that is the present. Remember: tense has to do with time. So if you want to be a grammar snob or look cool at a dinner party you should refer to the imperative mood rather than the imperative tense.
The Forms of the Informal Imperative:
Watch the following video to learn about the imperative in Italian:
*There are exercises at the end of the video to reinforce what you have learned.
The informal imperative mood is not difficult to form in Italian. In forming it, there are minimal changes made to the infinitive to create the imperative. In many cases the forms are the same as their equivalents in the present tense indicative mood. Let's first take a look at a chart of the stems of the informal imperative:
To form the stems for the informal imperative, you chop the verb stem from the infinitive. The only exception is if you are dealing with the tu form of an -ire verb that uses the -isc- ending in the present tense, you also use that in the imperative.
To form the tu form of the imperative you add the following endings:
These are the forms you will use when telling people you know well to do things. The model forms mean from left to right: "speak!", "write!", "sleep!", and "clean!"
Even easier to form are the voi forms of the imperative. You may notice the similarity of these forms to their equivalents in the present indicative. They are the same forms. To form these you add the following endings:
These are the forms you will use when telling two people or more to do things. The model forms mean the same as they do in the tu forms."
To form the noi form of the imperative you add the following endings:
These are the forms you will use when you want to say "let's ...!". The model forms mean from left to right: "let's speak!", "let's write!", "let's sleep!", and "clean!"
Irregular forms of the informal imperative
There are several irregular forms of the imperative in the tu form. These often occur when the present tense tu form is also irregular. Here is a table of several irregular imperatives:
Common irregular imperative 'tu' forms:
| Verb | tu form | |
| bere (to drink) | bevi! | |
| tenere (to hold) | tieni! | |
| venire (to come) | vieni! | |
| uscire (to go out) | esci! |
There are also irregular forms of the imperative in the tu form that have an alternative elided form:
Common irregular imperative 'tu' forms:
| Verb | tu form | |
| andare (to go) | va'! (vai!) | |
| dare (to give) | da'! (dai!) | |
| fare (to do) | fa'! (fai!) | |
| stare (to stay) | sta'! (stai!) | |
| dire (to tell, say) | di'! |
There are also verbs that are irregular in the tu & voi forms.
Verbs irregular in the tu and voi forms
| Verb | tu & voi forms | |
| avere (to have) | abbi! (tu) | |
| abbiate! (voi) | ||
| essere (to be) | sii! (tu) | |
| siate! (voi) |
The following is a set of flashcards that you can use to study and drill the imperative: