Portuguese 5.1. Imperative Mood & Giving Commands

The imperative mood is generally used to give commands or instructions in the affirmative or the negative. We have so far encountered the indicative and the subjunctive moods. The imperative is considered a separate mood in Portuguese.

The imperative mood can be used in the singular or plural form and can be formal or informal. When using the imperative mood with the plural, there is only one format for both formal and informal. Thus, we have three cases:

1. Singular informal
2. Singular formal
3. Plural

Each of the above can be used in the affirmative or the negative. In addition to these three cases of imperative commands, we will study commands using “nós.”

Singular Informal Imperative

To give commands to a single person in an informal way, we use the present indicative in the third-person singular form, i.e., “ele/ela,” in the affirmative; and the present subjunctive in the third-person singular form in the negative. For example:

Compra-me um café.	Buy me a coffee.
Anda lentamente.	Walk slowly.
Não minta para mim.	Don’t lie to me.
Não fale rápido.	Don’t speak fast.

There are only two irregular verbs in the affirmative singular informal command form. These are “ser” and “estar” which only have formal imperative forms using the subjunctive:

Infinitive	Command	Example
ser	seja	Seja educado.	Be polite.
estar	esteja	Esteja à vontade.	Be my guest.

Singular Formal Imperative

To give commands to a single person in a formal way, we use the present subjunctive in the third-person singular form in both the affirmative and in the negative; that is, the form used with “ele/ela.” For example:

Senhora, entre daqui, por favor.	Ma’am, enter from here, please.
Senhor, não fume aqui, por favor.	Sir, don’t smoke here, please.

Plural Imperative

To give commands to a group of people, we use the present subjunctive in the third-person plural form in both the affirmative and in the negative; that is, the form used with “eles/elas.” For example:

Meninos, façam sua lição de casa.	Boys, do the homework.
Senhores, não fumem aqui, por favor.	Gentlemen, don’t smoke here, please.

Commands using “Nós”

Similar to the expression “let’s do something” in English, commands using “nós” in Portuguese express the same idea and can be affirmative or negative. Both use the present subjunctive, for example:

Façamos nossa lição de casa.	Let’s do our homework.
Não fumemos.	Let’s not smoke.

Next: Simple Conditional Tense

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