Grammar Notes:  Los mandatos (INFORMAL COMMANDS)

There are 2 different types of commands, affirmative and negative.  Affirmative is when you are telling someone to do something and negative is when you are telling someone NOT to do something.

We only talked about giving commands to someone that you know. (a little brother or sister, for example)

For the affirmative commands you simply use the �l/ella form of the present tense.  If there is a pronoun to add to it- you tack it on the end and add an accent mark at the beginning of the verb.

Habla- talk    H�blame- talk to me

Come- eat    C�mela- eat it (the fruit)

For the negative commands you use the word NO first then add the pronoun if there are any, then you have the verb.  The verbs ending changes!! -ar verbs change to -es and the -er/ -ir verbs change to -as

No hables- Don't talk    No me hables- Don't talk to me.

No comas- Don't eat    No lo comas- Don't eat it (chocolate).

If there is a verb that ends in -car it changes to maintain the "k" sound:

tocar:  No me toques. - Don't touch me.

If there is a verb that ends in -gar it changes to maintain the "g" sound:

llegar (to arrive)      No llegues tarde.- Don't arrive late.

If there is a verb that ends in -zar it changes to maintain the "s" sound.

almorzar (to eat lunch)  No almuerces ahora- Don't eat lunch now.

There are some irregulars:

Infinitive                    Affirmative            Negative

hacer-to do                haz                         no hagas

ir-to go                        ve                            no vayas

poner-to put                pon                          no pongas

salir-to leave                sal                            no salgas

ser-to be                      s�                            no seas

tener-to have                ten                            no tengas

venir- to come            ven                            no vengas

(Add on for Spanish III) 

FORMAL COMMANDS- use these when commanding someone that you need to show respect to (a teacher, waiter, older person)

Affirmative and negative show the same use except that they do follow the above rules for placing pronouns:

H�bleme- talk to me             No me hable- don't talk to me

Coma-eat                            No coma-don't eat

For irregluars you keep the same irregular that you would have used in the negative form.

H�galo-do it                          No lo haga- Don't do it.

Venga-Come                         No venga- Don't come

V�yase- go away                    No se vaya- Don't go

FORMAL PLURAL COMMANDS

When telling a group of people to do something you simply add an -n to the end:

Esc�chenme- listen to me        No hablen- Don't talk

V�yanse- come                       No se vayan- Don't come

Miren- look/watch                   No miren- don't look

Coman-Eat                              No coman- don't eat

Abran- open                            No abran- don't open

Add direct and indirect object pronouns to the end of affirmative commands:

D�melo-tell it to me

Add direct and indirect object pronouns before negative commands but after the NO:

No me lo digas- Don't tell it to me.