French Imperative Conjugations - Lawless French Grammar

Conjugaisons de l’impératif


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French imperative conjugations are relatively easy, as for most verbs they’re identical to their present tense conjugations – without the subject pronoun. The imperative is the only personal verb form that does not require a subject; the verb conjugation alone tells you who is being ordered to do or not to do something.

In addition, the imperative exists only for three grammatical persons instead of the normal six.*

Imperative of -er verbs

All -er verbs – regular, stem-changing, and irregular – follow this pattern:

tu: present tense conjugation minus final -s
nous: present tense conjugation
vous: present tense conjugation

Par exemple…

	donner	appeler	aller
(tu)	donne	appelle	va
(nous)	donnons	appelons	allons
(vous)	donnez	appelez	allez

When a tu imperative is followed by an adverbial pronoun (en or y), the final s is maintained (learn more).

Imperative of -ir and -re verbs

1) Verbs that end in –frir and –vrir, which are conjugated like -er verbs in the present tense, follow the -er pattern in the imperative as well:

Par exemple…

	offrir	couvrir
(tu)	offre	couvre
(nous)	offrons	couvrons
(vous)	offrez	couvrez

2) With the exception of the above plus four irregular verbs, all other -ir and -re verbs – regular and irregular – use their present tense conjugations for the imperative.

Par exemple…

	choisir	partir	vendre	boire
(tu)	choisis	pars	vends	bois
(nous)	choisissons	partons	vendons	buvons
(vous)	choisissez	partez	vendez	buvez

Note that the tu form of these verbs keeps the -s at the end (learn more).

Irregular imperatives

Of course, there are always some irregular verbs to keep you on your toes. The imperative has four:

	avoir	être	savoir	vouloir
(tu)	aie	sois	sache	veuille
(nous)	ayons	soyons	sachons	n/a
(vous)	ayez	soyez	sachez	veuillez