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French Conjugation

Introduction to the Imperative Mood: Informal Commands

Directing instructions, requests, or friendly advice to a single peer using the tu form of the imperative.

Level A1 Category Conjugation

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Lesson Summary

Directing instructions, requests, or friendly advice to a single peer using the tu form of the imperative.

Conjugation

The Tu Form of the Imperative

The imperative mood is used without a subject pronoun. The polite (vous) and collective (nous) forms were introduced in the previous imperative lesson. The tu form is employed with a single person whom the speaker addresses informally: a friend, a family member, or a child. This form follows a specific spelling rule for verbs ending in -er.

Imperative: Tu Form

Verb	Present Tu	Imperative Tu	Meaning
parler	tu parles	Parle !	Speak!
écouter	tu écoutes	Écoute !	Listen!
regarder	tu regardes	Regarde !	Look!
aller	tu vas	Va !	Go!
faire	tu fais	Fais !	Do/Make!
venir	tu viens	Viens !	Come!
se lever	tu te lèves	Lève-toi !	Get up!
s'asseoir	tu t'assieds	Assieds-toi !	Sit down!

The ‑s Dropping Rule

For regular -er verbs (and aller, which follows the same pattern), the final -s of the present‑tense tu form is removed in the imperative. Examples: Tu parles → Parle !; Tu regardes → Regarde !

Verbs of other conjugations retain their normal tu ending: Tu fais → Fais !; Tu vas → Va !; Tu viens → Viens !.

Pronominal Verbs and Negation

With pronominal verbs, the reflexive pronoun te becomes toi and is placed after the verb, linked by a hyphen: Tu te lèves → Lève-toi !; Tu t'assieds → Assieds-toi !

In negative commands, the pronoun remains before the verb and does not change to toi: Ne te lève pas !; Ne va pas au parc !; Ne fais pas ça !. For the general structure of negation, see basic negation.

Examples

Regarde cette photo !
The -s of the present tense tu regardes is dropped.
Va à la boulangerie, s'il te plaît.
Aller drops the -s despite being irregular.
Lève-toi, il est sept heures !
Pronominal verb: te becomes toi after the verb.

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Introduction to the Imperative Mood: Informal CommandsDirecting instructions, requests, or friendly advice to a single peer using the tu form of the imperative.Construct direct tu commands while applying the rule that drops the final -s for regular -er verbs.ConjugationA1conjugationLearn French ConjugationFrench ConjugationThe Tu Form of the ImperativeThe imperative mood is used without a subject pronoun. The polite (vous) and collective (nous) forms were introduced in the previous imperative lesson. The tu form is employed with a single person whom the speaker addresses informally: a friend, a family member, or a child. This form follows a specific spelling rule for verbs ending in -er.