Ferme la porte, s'il te plaît.Close the door, please.

The imperative is the form you use to tell someone to do something — an instruction, a direction, a piece of advice. French has just three imperative forms — one for tu, one for nous (let's…) and one for vous. For regular verbs they are simply the present tense with the subject pronoun left out; a handful of common verbs have their own forms.

Quick shortcut: for regular verbs, take the present-tense tu / nous / vous form and drop the subject pronoun: tu manges → Mange !, nous partons → Partons !, vous venez → Venez !. For verbs conjugated like parler (and aller), the tu form also loses its final -s: Parle !, Va !. A few verbs (être, avoir, savoir) have special forms — see below.

The three forms

For regular verbs, each form is just the present tense minus the subject pronoun:

Verb tu nous vous
parler parle parlons parlez
finir finis finissons finissez
attendre attends attendons attendez
aller va allons allez
  • Tu form: for orders to one person you address as tu.
  • Nous form: a suggestion including yourself — Allons-y ! (Let's go!), Mangeons ! (Let's eat!).
  • Vous form: for someone you address as vous, or for a group.

Regarde ce film, il est génial.   Prenons un café.   Fermez les fenêtres, s'il vous plaît.

The lost -s

For verbs conjugated like parler — every -er verb, plus aller and a few -ir verbs like ouvrir, offrir, couvrir — the tu imperative has no final -s, even though the present tense does:

  • tu parles → Parle !    tu vas → Va !    tu ouvres → Ouvre !

Verbs conjugated like finir or attendre keep the -s: Finis !, Attends !, Prends !. (The present-tense forms themselves are in Present tense: -er verbs and Present tense: -ir and -re verbs.)

(The -s comes back before y or en for smoother sound: Vas-y !, Manges-en ! — a small detail you'll meet later.)

Irregular imperatives

Four common verbs have their own imperative forms:

tu nous vous
être sois soyons soyez
avoir aie ayons ayez
savoir sache sachons sachez
vouloir — — veuillez
  • Sois patient.   Ayez confiance.   Sache que je suis là.
  • Veuillez patienter. — a very polite please wait, used on signs and in formal writing (veuillez + infinitive).

Saying "don't"

Put ne… pas (or ne… jamais, ne… rien) around the verb, the same wrap covered in Negation with ne… pas:

  • Ne ferme pas la porte.
  • ***N'*attends pas.
  • Ne partons pas tout de suite.

Where the pronouns go

This is the part that trips people up, because it changes between the affirmative and the negative:

Affirmative — pronoun after the verb, joined with a hyphen. me becomes moi, te becomes toi:

  • Regarde-moi.   Assieds-toi.   Donne-le-moi.

Negative — pronoun back in its normal place, before the verb:

  • Ne me regarde pas.   *Ne **t'*assieds pas.   Ne le lui donne pas.

A note on tone

A bare imperative can sound abrupt. In everyday French it is usually softened — with s'il te plaît / s'il vous plaît, with a gentler veuillez + infinitive, or by turning the order into a question (Tu peux fermer la porte ?). The imperative on its own is normal for directions, recipes, signs and instructions, where no one expects politeness formulas.

Common mistakes

  • ❌ Tu parle ! → ✅ Parle ! (drop the subject pronoun)
  • ❌ Parles ! → ✅ Parle ! (no -s on the tu form of a verb conjugated like parler)
  • ❌ Écoute ! for a group → ✅ Écoutez ! (use the vous form)
  • ❌ Ne regarde-moi pas → ✅ Ne me regarde pas (in the negative, the pronoun goes before the verb)
  • ❌ Donne-moi-le → ✅ Donne-le-moi (direct object first, then moi)
  • ❌ Sois pas triste (in writing) → ✅ Ne sois pas triste

Quick check

Give the imperative asked for:

  1. (tu, parler) ____ plus fort !
  2. (vous, être) ____ prudents sur la route.
  3. (nous, aller) ____ à la plage !
  4. Make it negative: Ferme la porte. → ____
  5. Add the pronoun: Téléphone à ta mère. → ____-lui.
Show answers
  1. Parle plus fort !   2. Soyez prudents sur la route.   3. Allons à la plage !   4. Ne ferme pas la porte.   5. Téléphone-lui.

Key takeaways

  • Three forms only — tu, nous, vous. For regular verbs: the present tense without the subject pronoun.
  • Verbs conjugated like parler (all -er verbs, aller, ouvrir…) drop the final -s in the tu form: Parle !, Va !. Verbs like finir / attendre keep it: Finis !, Attends !.
  • Irregulars: sois / soyons / soyez, aie / ayons / ayez, sache / sachons / sachez, and polite veuillez + infinitive.
  • Negative: ne… pas around the verb — Ne parle pas.
  • Pronouns: after the verb with a hyphen when affirmative (Regarde-moi), before it when negative (Ne me regarde pas).