Verbs: Imperative Mood — French Grammar

The imperative mood is used to issue direct commands, make requests, or offer strong advice. In French, the imperative does not use a subject pronoun. You must choose the correct form based on whether you are addressing one person informally (), a group or someone formally (), or making a suggestion for yourself and others ().

Addressing One Person (Informal)

Use this form when speaking to a family member, a friend, a child, or a pet. To form the singular imperative, use the present tense form of the verb.

However, there is one important spelling rule: for verbs ending in (like ) and the verb , you must drop the final .

Parle plus fort !
Speak louder!
Va dans ta chambre.
Go to your room.

For and verbs, the spelling remains exactly the same as the present tense form (keeping the ).

Finis ton repas.
Finish your meal.
Prends un taxi.
Take a taxi.

Addressing a Group or Formally

When you are giving a command to a group of people (plural) or to a single person you treat formally (polite), use the form. This is identical to the present tense conjugation.

Venez avec moi.
Come with me.
Fermez la porte, s'il vous plaît.
Close the door, please.
Attendez un moment.
Wait a moment.

Making Suggestions (The "Let's" Form)

To suggest an action that includes yourself and the listeners (equivalent to "Let's" in English), use the form of the verb. This is identical to the present tense conjugation.

Allons au cinéma.
Let's go to the cinema.
Prenons une pause.
Let's take a break.

Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns

In affirmative commands (telling someone to do something), object and reflexive pronouns are placed after the verb and connected with a hyphen. Note that changes to and changes to .

Lève-toi !
Get up!
Écoutez-moi.
Listen to me.
Dépêchons-nous.
Let's hurry.

In negative commands (telling someone not to do something), the order follows the standard rule: the pronoun stays before the verb.

Ne te lève pas.
Don't get up.
Ne m'oubliez pas.
Don't forget me.

Irregular Verbs

A few verbs are irregular in the imperative and use their subjunctive stems rather than the present indicative. The most common are (to be), (to have), and (to know).

Sois prudent.
Be careful. (Tu form)
Soyez gentils !
Be nice! (Vous form)
N'aie pas peur.
Don't be afraid. (Tu form)

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s French course

44 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 23. A few of them, with the words “Verbs: Imperative Mood” is about in bold:

Allez jeter un œil à la cuisine. Elle est si petite.
Go and check out (pl.) the kitchen. It is so small.
Lesson 322
Ne mange pas ça ! C'est du porc !
Don't eat that! That's pork!
Lesson 366
N'oublie pas le fromage pour notre pique-nique.
Don't forget the cheese for our picnic.
Lesson 477

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