Tuesday 12 June 2012

Walk, don't walk. Talk, don't talk

If you're old enough to recognise the title as a quote from the 1978 BoomTown Rats hit, 'Rat Trap', that just goes to prove that there's no age limit on learning Spanish ;¬)
The title also serves to illustrate the two different uses of the Spanish Imperative (or as Michel Thomas called it - 'command' ) tense, positive and negative.

Unless you're extremely bossy (mandón) or rude (maleducado), you probably won't use the Imperative very much, but it's always useful to know and, although it's mostly regular, there are a couple of things to look out for.

Let's start with the regular parts. The conjugation is very similar to the Subjunctive, in that the final vowel changes from 'a' to 'e', or from 'i' or 'e' to 'a' (what Michel Thomas refers to as 'switching tracks')
So, to tell someone to STOP! ( verb 'parar') you'd use PARE!
The most common example, which you'll hear quite a lot is 'look'. This is either literal, as in 'look at that', or to draw someone's attention to what you are saying as in 'look here'. Take the formal 'you' (usted) conjugation of 'mirar' , which is 'mira', and change the final vowel, and you get 'mire'.

Now let's try a verb ending in 'er' - Leer - and order a group of people to read.
Take 'leen', change the final vowel (which, in this case is NOT the last letter of the word) and you get 'lean', or 'leanlo' for 'read it, all of you'.
Verbs, like 'sentir' or 'dormir' which are irregular in the present tense, still work the same. You keep the present tense irregularity e.g. 'duerme' (you sleep), and just change the final vowel, so you get 'duerma!' (sleep!)

Right, that was the easy part (honest)
As usual, in Spanish, there are always irregular verbs and, in the Imperative, most of them follow the same pattern of irregularity that they have in the Subjunctive. A great example is 'decir' (to tell)
The 'usted' version of 'tell me' is 'diga me'
I'm hoping you're familiar with what Michel Thomas referred to as the 'go-go' verbs. These are verbs where the present tense conjugation for 'yo' ends in 'go'

Tengo (of tener) - I have
Digo (of decir) -I say
Hago (of hacer) - I do
Pongo (of poner) - I put
Traigo (of traer) - I bring
Vengo (of venir) - I come
Salgo - (of salir) - I go

They're actually quite straightforward, in the Imperative, as the 'go-go's just go 'ga-ga'
So . .
'Ponga lo allí' - you (usted) put it there (change the 'o' to an 'a')
'Traiga me la cuenta' - you (usted) bring me the bill.
'Hagan lo' - all of you (ustedes) do it!  etc.
Note: these would normally be written, and said, as 'pongalo', 'traigame' and 'haganlo'. I just put a space in, so you can the verb endiing more clearly.

The more observant of you might wonder why I keep specifying 'usted'. Well, the 'tu' form introduces its own extra irregularity, but we'll come to that shortly.

Now for another easy bit. How do you tell someone NOT to do something?
Just say 'NO' (and move the pronoun 'lo' so it's before the verb)
'No lo ponga allí' - don't put it there
'No lo hagan' - don't do it (ustedes)
'No lo comas' - don't eat it (tu)

Whoa! didn't I just say 'tu' was irregular?
Well, it is, but in the positive, or affirmative, version of the Imperative.
When you're telling someone NOT to do something, 'tu' follows the same pattern as 'usted', just with the familiar 's' on the end,
'No me digas!' (tu) - 'don't tell me that!' - you will hear this SO much. It's the equivalent of  'No way!'
'No corras' (tu) - 'don't run'
'No sientes allí'  (tu) - 'don't sit there'
'No me mires' (tu) - 'don't look at me'

So where's the irregularity?
When using the positive imperative for 'tu', in most cases, you just drop the 's' from the present tense conjugation.
Example: 'comer' (to eat) - '(tu) comes' - you eat
'Come lo!' - Eat it!
Note the difference with 'Coma lo!' - Eat it! (usted)
But 'no lo coma' - don't eat it (usted)
and 'no lo comas' - don't eat it (tu)
Example: 'llamar' (to call) - 'me llames' - you call me (tu)
'llamame' - tu
'llameme' - usted
'no me llames' - tu
'no me llame' - usted

Unfortunately, we're not quite done with the 'tu' irregularities, as there are a half dozen or so verbs, including the 'ga-ga's, where the positive Imperative is just totally different to anything else.
Unfortunately, you'll just have to commit them to memory. Fortunately there aren't too many.
OK - the list
(poner) - 'pon' - 'pon lo allí' - put it there (tu)
(hacer) - 'haz' - 'haz lo! - do it! (tu)
(decir) - 'di' - 'di me lo' (dimelo) - tell me it (tu) [The title of an Enrique Iglesias song, too]
(tener) - 'ten' - 'ten cuidado' - take care (tu)
(venir) - 'ven' - 'ven con migo'  come with me (tu)
(salir) - 'sal' - get out (tu)
(ir) - 've' - 've te' - go away (tu)
(ser) - 'sé' - 'sé felíz' - be happy (tu)

The last one reminds me to mention that 'ser' follows the same conjugation in the Imperative as in the Subjunctive, so 'be happy' (usted) is 'sea felíz'
'Ir' also follows the Subjunctive pattern so 'Go with God' is 'vaya con Dios'

As I said, at the top of the page, there are nicer ways of asking people to do things than a direct instruction ('puedes traerme la cuenta' is more polite than 'traigamela') but I've spent a lot of time trying to impress the irregularities, especially the difference between positive and negative 'tu' conjugations into my brain, so I thought this would be a good exercise for me and, hopefully a helping hand for you.

¡Disfrutalo!


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