Los Mandatos

Commands are very direct expressions to tell someone to do or not to do something, sometimes even strong imperatives:
 
Example: Speak slowly. Habla despacio.  Don't talk. No hables.


Commands are directed to another person ("you"), either one person or several people. You can have a formal relation with this person or a more informal one, for example with friends. In the first case you have to use a formal command (Ud./ Uds.-command) and in the second an informal command (tu-commnd) in Spanish.
 

formal: usted/ ustedes  (President) informal: tu/ ustedes  (Friend)
one person: Do it. Hable despacio. (Speak slowly.) Habla despacio. (Speak slowly.)
several people: Do it Hablen despacio. (Speak slowly.) Hablen despacio. (Speak slowly.) * 
one person: Don't do it. No hable despacio. (Don't speak slowly) No hables despacio. (Don't speak slowly)
several people: Don't do it. No hablen despacio. (Don't speak slowly) No hablen despacio. (Don't speak slowly)
* In parts of the Spanish speaking world where people use the "Vosotros/as"-form there is another verb form for informal commands directed to several people, which we are not going to introduce here.