Language/French/Grammar/Imperatives

Imperatives in French

Ah, the imperative in French grammar! One of the most useful tools in any French speaker's arsenal. It's a tense that can be used to give commands, make requests, and even offer advice. In this lesson, we'll explore everything you need to know about using the imperative in French.

First, let's talk about what the imperative is. In French, the imperative is a tense used to give commands, requests, or advice. Unlike other tenses, it doesn't have subject pronouns, which means that the verb form changes depending on the subject.

To form the imperative in French, you need to use the present tense of the verb, but without the subject pronoun. For example, "tu manges" (you eat) becomes "mange!" (eat!) in the imperative.

Imperative of Common French Verbs

Here are the imperative forms of some common verbs in French:

Manger (to eat)

• Mange! (eat!)
• Mangeons! (let's eat!)
• Mangez! (eat! - formal)

Aller (to go)

• Va! (go!)
• Allons! (let's go!)
• Allez! (go! - formal)

Être (to be)

• Sois! (be!)
• Soyons! (let's be!)
• Soyez! (be! - formal)

Advice

Now, let's talk about some important things to keep in mind when using the imperative in French.

1. Use the appropriate form for the subject. As mentioned earlier, the verb form changes depending on the subject. "Mange!" is the imperative form for "tu manges," but "mangez!" is the imperative form for "vous mangez."
2. Use the negative form for negative commands. To give a negative command in French, you need to use the imperative form of the verb "ne" followed by the appropriate verb form. For example, "ne mange pas!" (don't eat!) is the negative imperative form of "tu manges."
3. Use the pronoun "y" for commands involving location. When giving a command that involves a location, such as "go there," use the pronoun "y." For example, "vas-y!" (go there!) is the imperative form of "tu vas là-bas."
4. Use the reflexive pronoun for reflexive verbs. If you're using a reflexive verb, such as "se laver" (to wash oneself), use the appropriate reflexive pronoun in the imperative form. For example, "lave-toi!" (wash yourself!) is the imperative form of "tu te laves."
5. Use the infinitive form for "let's" commands. To give a "let's" command in French, use the first person plural (nous) form of the verb in the infinitive. For example, "manger" becomes "mangeons!" (let's eat!).

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds