Los Mandatos Formales

Formal Commands or usted(es)-commands are directed to one ore several persons with whom you are not familiar. You use formal commands with people

• who are older than you,
• who have a higher social position
• who you don't like
• who you like to keep in a distance, etc.

For formal commands we use the third person singular or plural of the present subjunctive. (You have to use the first person present indicative and switch to the "opposite" ending.) If you are not sure, you can also use the verb conjugator .
 

	-ar verbs: hablar	-er verbs: comer	-ir verbs: escibir
one person: Do it.	Hable despacio. (Speak slowly.)	Coma la sopa. (Eat the soup)	Escriba la carta. (Write the letter.)
several people: Do it	Hablen despacio. (Speak slowly.)	Coman la sopa. (Eat the soup)	Escriban la carta. (Write the letter.)
one person: Don't do it.	No hable despacio. (Don't speak slowly)	No coma la sopa. (Don't eat the soup.)	No escriba la carta. (Don't write the letter)
several people: Don't do it.	No hablen despacio. (Don't speak slowly)	No coman la sopa. (Don't eat the soup.)	No escriban la carta. (Don't write the letter)

 To make the command sound more polite or respectful you can use Ud. or Uds. after the verb form:

Example: Hable Ud. despacio.Hablen Uds. despacio.

Sometimes one or several pronouns (me, te, le, nos, os, les, lo, la) accompany the command form:

Send me the letter. or Send it (the letter) to me.: Mándeme la carta. Mándenme la carta. or Mándemela. Mándenmela.

In this case, in Do-it-commands, the pronoun or pronouns follow the verb form and are even attached to it, which represents an exception from the general rule that the pronoun or pronouns always precede the conjugated verb. By adding one or two pronouns at the end of the verb you would change the syllable which carries the stress of the word (when a word ends in a vowel, n or s, it's the second syllable from the end that carries the stress), and therefore you have to put an accent on the syllable which had the stress before you added the pronouns, in the case of Mándemela the first a (Mande la carta.).
 

In negative or Don't-do-it-commands the position of the pronoun follows the general rule, which means it stands before the command form:

Don't send me the letter. or Don't send it to me.: No me mande la carta. No me manden la carta. or No me la mande. No me la manden.