Imperative

With the imperative you give instructions, requests, and advice — from recipes to directions. You practice the du-form, ihr-form, and Sie-form so you can ask in the right tone.

Imperative, du-form
Imperative, Sie-form (formal)
Imperative, ihr-form

Grammar → Imperative

With the imperative you express requests, commands, and advice. The verb is always in position 1.

There are three forms, depending on who you address:

du-form (informal, one person): verb stem without du and without -st. Example: du kommst → Komm!
ihr-form (informal, several people): like the ihr conjugation, but without ihr. Example: ihr kommt → Kommt!
Sie-form (formal): infinitive + Sie. Example: Kommen Sie!

In the du-form you can usually drop the -e at the end of the stem — Komm! and Komme! are both correct. For some verbs the form with -e is better or even required: when the stem loses -e- (rechnen → rechne!, atmen → atme!), with verbs ending in -eln and -ern (wandere!, lächle!), and with stems ending in -t or -d (bete!, rede! — nicer than bet!, red!).

Verb	du	ihr	Sie
kommen	Komm!	Kommt!	Kommen Sie!
machen	Mach!	Macht!	Machen Sie!
geben (e→i)	Gib!	Gebt!	Geben Sie!
lesen (e→ie)	Lies!	Lest!	Lesen Sie!
sein (Sonderform)	Sei!	Seid!	Seien Sie!