Saturday, January 4, 2020

Positive vs. Negative Commands in Spanish

Spanish uses a different verb form for positive direct commands (such as do it) than it does for negative direct commands (dont do it) in the familiar second-person form, that is, when speaking to tà º or vosotros. Note the differences with the following regular verbs, all of them in the imperative mood. Pronouns in parentheses are optional and are included here for clarity: habla (tà º) (speak, you singular); no hables (dont speak, you singular); hablad (vosotros) (speak, you plural); no hablà ©is (vosotros) (dont speak, you plural) come (tà º) (eat, you singular); no comas (dont eat, you singular); comed (vosotros) (eat, you plural); no comà ¡is (vosotros) (dont eat, you plural) vive (tà º) (live, you singular); no vivas (dont live, you singular); vivid (vosotros) (live, you plural); no vivà ¡is (vosotros) (dont live, you plural) The same endings are usually used for most of the irregular verbs as well. Note that the negative form of familiar second-person commands is the same as the present subjunctive form. Here are some examples of sentences showing the difference with irregular verbs: Ve a casa. (Go home, singular) No vayas a casa. (Dont go home.) Id a casa. (Go home, plural) No vayà ¡is a casa. (Dont go home, plural.) Hazlo. (Do it.) No lo hagas. (Dont do it.) Hacedlo. (Do it, plural.) No lo hagà ¡is. (Dont do it, plural.) Dime. (Tell me.) No me digas. (Dont tell me.) Decidme. (Tell me, plural.) No me digà ¡is. (Dont tell me, plural.)

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