Los Mandatos Informales
Informal Commands or tú/ usted(es)-commands
are directed to one ore several persons with whom you are familiar. You
use formal commands with
-
friends
-
people who have the same social position
or age
-
who you like
-
who you like to be close with, etc.
For formal commands we use tree different
verb forms:
-
the third person singular of the present
indicative when you tell one person to do something,
-
the second persons singular of the present
subjunctive when you are telling one person not to do something,
-
the third person plural of the present
subjunctive when you are telling several people to do or not to do
something.
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. |
Habla despacio. (Speak slowly.) |
Come la sopa. (Eat
the soup) |
Escribe 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 hables despacio. (Don't
speak slowly) |
No comas la sopa. (Don't eat
the soup.) |
No escribas 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) |
There are several exceptions for informal commands directed to one person,
where you can't just use the third person present, but a special form.
These exceptions are:
| decir |
di |
| hacer |
haz |
| ir |
ve |
| poner |
pon |
| salir |
sal |
| ser |
sé |
| tener |
ten |
| venir |
ven |
Verbs derived from the above infinitives
are also exceptions. Some examples are: desdecir,
maldecir,
deshacer, suponer, componer,
mantener,
convenir, etc. 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.: Mándame la carta.
Mándenme la carta. or Mándamela. 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 Mándamela
the
first a (Manda 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 mandes la carta.
No me manden la carta. or
No me la mandes. No me la manden.
|