Commands using verbs

The grammatical term for commands is the imperative.

There are three forms of the command in German:

1. one for when you are speaking to someone to whom you would say 'du' (singular, familiar)
2. one for 'ihr' (plural, familiar)
3. and one for 'Sie' (singular and plural, polite)

To form the 'du' command

To form the 'du' command, use the 'du' form of the present tense of the verb, and remove the word 'du' and the '-st' ending:

Note that verbs whose stem ends in '-s' or '-ss' or '-ß' drop only the '-t':

Note also that irregular/strong verbs which add an Umlaut in the 'du' form do not keep the Umlaut in commands:

To form the 'ihr' command

To form the 'ihr' command, use the 'ihr' form of the present tense of the verb, and remove the word 'ihr', but keep the '-t' ending:

To form the 'Sie' command

To form the 'Sie' command, use the 'Sie' form of the present tense of the verb, and turn the two words around:

Note that the verb 'to be' - 'sein' - is, as always, irregular:

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