The Imperative

📌 Nota gramatical

The imperative mood is used to give commands, advice, or instructions directly. In European Portuguese, the imperative has specific forms for 'tu' (informal singular), 'você' (formal singular), 'nós' (we/let's), 'vés' (informal plural, Portugal only), and 'vocês' (plural). It avoids the first-person singular ('eu').

📌 Nota gramatical

For regular verbs ending in -ar, the affirmative 'tu' imperative is identical to the third-person singular (ele/ela) of the present indicative. You drop the '-as' ending of the present tense and use '-a'.

📌 Nota gramatical

For regular verbs ending in -er and -ir, the affirmative 'tu' imperative matches the third-person singular of the present indicative, ending in '-e'.

📌 Nota gramatical

To tell someone informally NOT to do something, use 'não' followed by the present subjunctive form of the verb. For -ar verbs, this ends in '-es'; for -er and -ir verbs, it ends in '-as'.

📌 Nota gramatical

The formal singular imperative (você) uses the present subjunctive form for all conjugations (-ar verbs take '-e/-em', -er/-ir verbs take '-a/-am'). This form is used when addressing customers, elders, or strangers politely.

📌 Nota gramatical

To suggest an action for a group including yourself ('let's...'), use the 'nós' form of the present subjunctive. It translates as 'let's do something'.

📌 Nota gramatical

In European Portuguese, 'vocês' is the standard plural address for friends, family, or groups. The imperative borrows the present subjunctive plural form (-am/-em endings).

📌 Nota gramatical

Unique to European Portuguese (rarely used in Brazil), 'vós' is the traditional plural informal pronoun. The affirmative imperative drops the final '-is' of the present indicative (e.g., falais -> falai, comeis -> comei).

📌 Nota gramatical

Several high-frequency verbs have irregular affirmative 'tu' forms. Examples: ir -> vai, vir -> vem, ter -> tem, ser -> sê, fazer -> faz, dizer -> diz, por -> põe, trazer -> traz.

📌 Nota gramatical

In European Portuguese, affirmative commands require ENCLISIS—attaching object pronouns to the verb with a hyphen. Example: 'diz-me' (tell me), 'ajuda-o' (help him).

📌 Nota gramatical

Unlike affirmative commands, negative commands trigger PROCLISIS—the pronoun moves BEFORE the verb, right after the negative word 'não'.

📌 Nota gramatical

To soften direct commands in European Portuguese, speakers often add polite phrases like 'por favor', 'se faz favor', or use the conditional or diminutive forms alongside the imperative.