A1 · beginner · 12/27 #EMIR

The imperative · Imperativ

der Imperativ

The imperative (Imperativ) is the German command form; it expresses an order, a suggestion or an invitation: Komm! Kommt! Kommen Sie!

Komm! · Kommt! · Kommen Sie! — the same command in three different shapes. In English, politeness lives in your tone; in German it lives in the shape of the verb. Here: the forms for three kinds of listener, how irregular verbs behave in commands, and where a request stops being an order.

Contents

Three forms, one logic

ShortcutA du command has no ending and no pronoun: Komm! · Geh! · Nimm!

In English the command is one form: “Come.” Politeness comes from tone and words like “please”. German has three separate forms depending on who you are talking to, and the choice depends entirely on the listener — on shape, not tone.

To whom	How it is built	kommen	machen
du · one person, informal	bare stem (no pronoun)	Komm!	Mach!
ihr · several people, informal	ihr form, pronoun dropped	Kommt!	Macht!
Sie · formal	verb + Sie (pronoun stays)	Kommen Sie!	Machen Sie!

The only real news is the du form: the pronoun drops and the verb stands bare. The ihr and Sie forms are conjugations you already know.

Komm bitte her!

Come here, please. — du

Kommen Sie bitte herein!

Please, come in. — Sie

Two details in the du form

First: some verbs take an -e at the end. It is there to make the word sayable — if the stem ends in -t · -d or in consonant + m/n (öffn-, atm-), the -e is required. After a vowel + m/n, as in komm-, it is not; with other verbs it drops in everyday speech.

Verb	du command	Why
warten	Warte!	stem ends in -t
öffnen	Öffne!	stem ends in consonant + n
kommen	Komm!	vowel + m, not needed
gehen	Geh!	not needed, drops

Second, and more important: verbs whose stem vowel changes e → i change in the command too, and -e is never added. But the a → ä change does not happen in commands.

Verb	du form	du command	Rule
geben	du gibst	Gib!	e → i carries over
lesen	du liest	Lies!	e → ie carries over
helfen	du hilfst	Hilf!	e → i carries over
fahren	du fährst	Fahr!	a → ä does NOT carry over
schlafen	du schläfst	Schlaf!	the umlaut goes away

Short rule: the e-change carries into the command, the umlaut does not.

sein · separable verbs · softeners

Case	du	ihr	Sie
sein — completely irregular	Sei!	Seid!	Seien Sie!
haben	Hab!	Habt!	Haben Sie!
separable verb aufmachen	Mach … auf!	Macht … auf!	Machen Sie … auf!

Sei ruhig! · Seien Sie bitte leise! — the imperative of sein is simply memorised; there is no rule.

A German command doesn’t sound rude on its own, but two small words turn it completely into a request. In everyday speech almost every command has one of them.

bitte — “please”. It can go almost anywhere: Bitte komm! · Komm bitte!
mal — like English “just” or “for a sec”: Warte mal! = “Hang on a sec.” It makes a sentence friendly at once.
The two also appear together: Mach mal bitte das Fenster auf.

Mach das Licht aus!

Turn off the light! — the prefix went to the end

Ausmach das Licht!

the prefix stayed at the front

Practice now

What you just learned

___ Sie bitte Platz!
Show the answer
Nehmen. In the formal (Sie) command the verb stands first, in its infinitive form.
The sentence “Gebe mir das Buch!” is correct.
Show the answer
False. The verb geben keeps its e→i change in the imperative, so the correct form is Gib mir das Buch!
To a group of friends: “Come!” →
Show the answer
Kommt! Informal address to several people is the ihr form.

Three traps

TRAP 01

Dropping the pronoun in the Sie form

Kommen! is wrong — it isn’t a command, it looks like an infinitive. In the formal command Sie has to be written: Kommen Sie! The only form that drops the pronoun is du.

TRAP 02

Not carrying the stem change into the command

Gebe mir das Buch! is wrong, and so is Lese den Text!. The correct forms are Gib mir das Buch! and Lies den Text!. The rule: if the du form has e → i/ie, the command has it too, and no -e is added at the end.

TRAP 03

Taking the ihr command for a plural “you” and using it in formal settings

Kommt! is an informal address to several people — a group of friends, children. To an official, a teacher, a customer you say Kommen Sie!. The wrong form comes across as rude.

05Build

Build the sentence yourself

Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.

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Tips

Know this before the test

The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.

du command: stem, no ending
Warte! · Komm! · Fahr! — the pronoun drops, and most verbs are left as a bare stem.
Warte!
The e→i change STAYS in commands, a→ä does NOT
Lies! · Iss! · Nimm! but Fahr! · Schlaf!
Lies den Text!
The ihr and Sie commands
ihr: same conjugation, pronoun dropped — Kommt! · Sie: verb + Sie — Kommen Sie! (sein → Seien Sie!)
Kommt! · Kommen Sie!
The separated part goes to the end
aufmachen → Mach … auf! · mitkommen → Komm mit!
Mach das Fenster auf!

Liest den Text!
Lies den Text!
The du command takes no -st; the changed stem stays.
Fähr langsam!
Fahr langsam!
The a→ä change does not carry into the command.
Sein Sie leise!
Seien Sie leise!
The Sie command of sein is a special form.
Aufmach das Fenster!
Mach das Fenster auf!
The separable prefix goes to the end in commands, too.

0505:20

Test yourself

Tap an answer — we will look at why together.

For du: “Wait!” →

Warte! The stem ends in -t, so the final -e is required.

For du: “Read the text!” (lesen) →

Lies! The e → ie change carries into the command, and no -e is added.

For Sie: “Please be quiet.” →

Seien Sie. The command forms of sein are irregular: sei · seid · seien Sie.

For du: “Open the window!” (aufmachen) →

Mach … auf! With a separable verb, the prefix goes to the end of the sentence.

For du: “Drive slowly!” (fahren) →

Fahr! The umlaut (a → ä) does not carry into the imperative.

To a group of friends: “Come!” →

Kommt! Informal address to several people is the ihr form.

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Worksheet

Imperative pocket card

This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.

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Nouns

das Haus · die Haustür

German nouns (Substantive) are the words that name things; they are always capitalised and carry a gender: das Haus, die Haustür.

The A1 path · step 13 / 27

Verbs