Imperatives

When you use it

The imperative is the form you use to tell someone what to do: instructions in a recipe, directions in the street, a warning, an offer or a polite request. It has no subject. The listener is always you, so English simply leaves the word out. The same form works for one person or several, for a friend or a stranger. Politeness comes from please, from the tone of voice, or from choosing a question (Could you open the window?) instead of an order. Ukrainian and Russian have a separate imperative ending for every verb, and a different form for ти and ви; English has one form for everyone.

How it is formed

The imperative uses the base form of the verb, the same form you find in the dictionary. Nothing is added for the person or the number.

The negative always needs do. In written instructions and on signs the full form do not is normal: Do not enter, Do not feed the animals. In speech don't is the usual form.

Let's is short for let us. It includes the speaker, so it expresses a suggestion, not an order. The verb after it is bare, exactly as after don't. The negative is let's not, and in casual speech you may also hear don't let's, which is older British usage.

To make an order softer, English usually turns it into a question rather than changing the verb form: Can you pass the salt?, Could you wait a moment? You will meet these in the lesson on can. In writing, a comma before please at the end of the sentence is normal; at the start, please takes no comma.

Examples

• Open your book at page ten.
• Turn left at the bank, then go straight on.
• Don't touch the plate. It is hot.
• Be quiet, please. Anna is sleeping.
• Let's have lunch in the park.
• Don't be late tomorrow.
• Take an umbrella. It is going to rain.
• Pass me the salt, please.

Common mistakes

• ✗ Don't to open the window.
  ✓ Don't open the window.
  After don't the verb stays in its base form with no to. Не відкривай and не открывай put the verb straight after не, and English does the same after don't.
• ✗ Not run in the corridor.
  ✓ Don't run in the corridor.
  Ukrainian and Russian make a negative order with не alone. English cannot: a negative imperative always needs do in front of not.
• ✗ Are careful. / You are careful.
  ✓ Be careful.
  Будь обережний and будь осторожен are the imperative of бути and быть. The English imperative of be is be, never am, is or are. You are careful is a statement, not an instruction.
• ✗ Let's to go. / Let's we go.
  ✓ Let's go.
  Давайте підемо and давайте пойдём put a full verb after давайте, so learners look for something extra after let's. Let's already contains us; it takes only the bare verb.
• ✗ Not to smoke here.
  ✓ Do not smoke here. / No smoking.
  Signs in Ukrainian and Russian use the infinitive: не палити, не курить. English signs use do not + verb, or no + the -ing form, never the infinitive.

Try it