Seaside and Holiday

German Commands

The command form is also called the imperative form and is used when giving commands, orders or instructions.

For example:
Be quiet!
Go left!
Stop it!

English has one verb form for a command whereas German has three forms. Which form to use depends on who you are talking to. It could be either:

• the informal du form if you are talking to a person who you know well
• the informal ihr form if you are talking to more than one person who you know well
• the formal Sie form if you are talking to one or more than one person who you don't know very well

If you're a bit unsure when to use du, ihr or Sie, check out our Restaurant Module in level A1.

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How is a German Command formed?

Right, let us show you how to construct a command in German.

	Form of Command	Example	Translation
du	verb stem (+e)	Schau!	Look!
ihr	verb stem + t	Schaut!	Look!
Sie	infinitive + Sie	Schauen Sie!	Look!

As you can see from the table, a command always starts with the verb, followed by the pronoun. However the pronouns du and ihr are dropped, leaving only the verb itself. The only time when the pronoun still appears is when using the polite Sie form.

For example:
Mach deine Hausaufgaben! ⇨ Do your homework!
Lernt bitte mehr Deutsch! ⇨ Please learn more German!
Fahren Sie vorsichtig! ⇨ Drive carefully!

A command in the du form usually only uses the stem of the verb. There are of course exceptions, but these are very rare. For example, when the stem of the verb ends in -d, -t, -m or -n, an -e is added to make the pronunciation easier.

For example:
reden (to talk) ⇨ Rede nicht so viel! (Don't talk so much!)
arbeiten (to work) ⇨ Arbeite mehr! (Work more!)
atmen (to breathe) ⇨ Atme tief durch! (Take a deep breath!)
öffnen (to open) ⇨ Öffne die Tür! (Open the door!)

Weak verbs ending in -eln or -ern also use this -e, but the other -e in the stem itself is often dropped in spoken German.

For example:
handeln (to act) ⇨ Handle schnell! (Act quickly!)
feiern (to celebrate) ⇨ Feire! (Celebrate!)

With these cases, it's best to learn and practise them when they come up rather than trying to memorise this complex rule in such rare cases.

As you learned in our Food Module, the du form of a verb can change a vowel. In these cases, the command in German will also change the same vowel.

For example:
lesen (to read): du liest ⇨ Lies das Buch! (Read the book!)
essen (to eat): du isst ⇨ Iss dein Frühstück! (Eat your breakfast!)

BUT if the vowel change involves an umlaut, this umlaut is not used in the command.

For example:
schlafen (to sleep): du schläfst ⇨ Schlaf gut! (Sleep well!)
fahren (to drive): du fährst ⇨ Fahr vorsichtig! (Drive carefully!)

Commands with separable verbs act the same way as you would expect. The prefix simply goes to the end of the sentence.

For example:
aufstehen (to get up) ⇨ Steh jetzt auf! (Get up now!)
aufhören (to stop) ⇨ Hört jetzt auf! (Stop it!)
zumachen (to close) ⇨ Machen Sie die Tür zu! (Close the door!)

Let's have a look how you use the command form with reflexive verbs. This is also very straightforward. All you do is put the reflexive pronoun after the command form. Remember, when talking to one or more people you don’t know this will go after the Sie.

For example:
sich beeilen (to hurry up) ⇨ Beeil dich! (Hurry up!)
sich waschen (to wash (oneself)) ⇨ Wascht euch die Hände! (Wash your hands!)
sich setzen (to sit down) ⇨ Setzen Sie sich auf den Stuhl! (Sit down on the chair!)

The verb sein is a strong verb and the command forms are quite irregular and don’t follow the rules that we've just discussed. Let's have a look at the verb sein in the three command forms:

• du form: Sei ruhig! – Be quiet!
  
• ihr form: Seid ruhig! – Be quiet!
  
• Sie form: Seien Sie ruhig! – Be quiet!
  

Here is a quick tip: A command on a sign is in reality talking to many people that it doesn't know. Therefore they usually conjugate the verb in the Sie form. Often they will combine it with a negative word to tell you not to do something. This could be nicht meaning not or verboten, meaning forbidden.

For example:
Bitte nicht in diesen Zug einsteigen! – Please don't board this train!
Berühren verboten! – Do not touch!