The French Imperative: Give Orders Without Sounding Rude

Écoute ! Regardez ! Allons-y ! The French imperative is the tense of commands, invitations and recipes — and it’s refreshingly simple: take the present tense, drop the subject. Then learn two quirks and three polite wrappers.

The three forms

Quirk 1: -er verbs lose the -s in the tu form: tu parles → Parle ! But it comes back before y and en for the sound: Vas-y ! Parles-en !

Quirk 2: four verbs go rogue: être → sois, soyons, soyez; avoir → aie, ayons, ayez; savoir → sache; vouloir → veuillez (the polite-email classic: « Veuillez patienter »).

Where the pronouns go

Affirmative: after the verb with hyphens, moi/toi forms: Donne-le-moi ! Lève-toi ! Negative: back in front, normal forms: Ne me le donne pas. Ne te lève pas. (Reflexive verbs love the imperative — full list in the reflexive verbs guide.)

Making it polite

A bare imperative can sound blunt in French. Soften it: add s’il vous plaît; swap in Veuillez + infinitive (formal writing); or step out of the imperative entirely: Pourriez-vous ouvrir la fenêtre ? beats « Ouvrez la fenêtre » in almost every adult situation.

FAQ

Why does « va » become « vas-y »?

Pure euphony — French hates the vowel clash « va y ». The s returns to glue the sounds: vas-y [vazi]. Same with parles-en.

Is there an imperative for « ils »?

No — you can only command people you’re talking to (tu, vous) or include yourself (nous = “let’s…”). For third parties, French uses que + subjunctive: Qu’ils attendent !

What is « Veuillez »?

The formal imperative of vouloir — literally “be willing to”. It fronts every polite French email: Veuillez trouver ci-joint… (Please find attached…).

Conjugation drills on the imperative chart, and the courtesy toolkit — greetings, please, sorry — on the politeness chart and in how to apologize.

Quick practice