Italian imperative tense

The imperative (imperativo) is a simple tense and has only one form: the present. It is used to give orders, indications, instructions or advice.

Examples:

• Per favore, invia questa lettera al direttore. = Please, send this letter to the director

• Prenda la prima strada a sinistra e poi prosegua fino al semaforo. = Take the first street on the left and then continue to the traffic light

• Venite qui! Devo parlarvi. = Come here! I must talk with you

• Andiamo o perdiamo il treno! = Let's go or we miss the train!

• Smetti di fumare! Fa male alla salute. = Stop smoking! It's bad for your health

As imperative is used to give orders or instructions, we never use it at the fisrt person singular. For the second person singular (tu) and the first and second person plural (noi - voi) the imperative has the same form of the present tense except for the verbs that belong to the first conjugation. For these verbs the second person singular (tu) end with –a instead of -i.

Here is the imperative of the auxiliary verbs essere and avere.

For the third person singular (Lei) imperativo has the same form of another tense called “congiuntivo”. The same happens for the third person plural (loro), even if it is not common to use imperative for “loro”.

Let's see now the imperative of regular verbs. 

The negative imperative (imperativo negativo) is formed by putting “non” before the imperative. But for the second person singular “tu” you need to use the infinitive form preceded by the negative “non”.

• Non parlare ad alta voce! = Don't speak loudly!

• Non cantare! = Don't sing!

• Non leggete questo libro! = Don't read this book!

For some verbs the imperative is a little bit different.

	Andare	Dare	Dire
tu	va’ / vai	da’ / dai	di’
lui / lei	vada	dia	dica
noi	andiamo	diamo	diciamo
voi	andate	date	dite
loro	vadano	diano	dicano

	Fare	Sapere	Stare
tu	fa’ / fai	sappi	sta’ / stai
lui / lei	faccia	sappia	stia
noi	facciamo	sappiamo	stiamo
voi	fate	sappiate	state
loro	facciano	sappiano	stiano

• Sta' zitto! = Be silent!
• Andate subito in camera vostra! = Go immediately to your room!
• Per favore, dica al direttore che l'aspetto nel mio ufficio = Please, tell the director that I wait for him in my office
• Faccia come vuole! = Do as you want!