The Russian imperative: simple commands and requests (читай, читайте, не говори)

Читай! Читайте, пожалуйста. Не говори.Read! Please read. Don't talk.

The imperative is the form of the verb for commands, instructions and requests. In Russian it has two main forms: one for ты (читай) and one for вы, which is also the polite form and the plural (читайте). Adding пожалуйста (please) makes a command sound friendly.

Quick shortcut: take the они form of the present tense and remove the ending; if what is left ends in a vowel, add -й (читают → читай); if it ends in a consonant, add -и (говорят → говори) or -ь (готовят → готовь); for вы add -те (читайте, говорите).

Forming the imperative

Start from the они form of the present tense (see Present tense: first conjugation and Present tense: second conjugation), remove the ending -ут / -ют / -ат / -ят and look at the last letter of the stem:

Stress and spelling make a few forms look different from the simple rule, so it helps to learn the most frequent ones as whole words: читай, пиши, говори, слушай, смотри, повторяй, жди, иди.

The вы-form: plural and polite

Add -те to the ты-form for the вы-form. It is used for several people and for one person you address politely:

• Читай! is for one person you address as ты; Читайте! is for several people or for one person you address as вы.
• Говори медленно. → Говорите медленно, пожалуйста. (Speak slowly, please.)
• Слушай. → Слушайте. (Listen.)
• Пиши. → Пишите. (Write.)

With strangers and in formal situations the вы-form is the normal choice, and пожалуйста is often added.

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs keep their ending after the imperative: -сь after a vowel (садись, садитесь) and -ся after a consonant or -ь (умывайся, готовься):

• садиться (to sit down): Садись! / Садитесь! (Sit down!)
• учиться (to study): Учись! / Учитесь! (Study!)
• готовиться (to get ready): Готовься! / Готовьтесь! (Get ready!)

A few irregular imperatives

Some very common verbs have their own forms:

• быть (to be): Будь! / Будьте! — Будьте здоровы! (Be well!)
• пить (to drink): Пей! / Пейте! — Пей чай. (Drink tea.)
• есть (to eat): Ешь! / Ешьте! — Ешьте суп. (Eat the soup.)

Not doing something: не + imperative

To tell someone not to do something, put не before the imperative. In a plain prohibition the verb is in its usual imperfective form, as in Negation with "не":

• Не говори! (Don't talk!) Не говорите так. (Please don't talk like that.)
• Не читай это. (Don't read this.)
• Не жди. (Don't wait.)

Many Russian verbs come in two aspects, and the choice between them in commands is explained in Aspect in the imperative (choosing perfective vs. imperfective commands). For now, the forms in this article are enough for everyday instructions.

Suggestions: давай / давайте

To suggest doing something together, use давай (to a friend) or давайте (to several people or politely) with an infinitive:

• Давай читать. (Let's read.)
• Давайте говорить по-русски. (Let's speak Russian.)

Common mistakes

• ❌ Читайть! → ✅ Читай! (no ending after -й)
• ❌ Садися! → ✅ Садись! (-сь after the vowel и)
• ❌ Пишайте! → ✅ Пишите! (the вы-form is the ты-form пиши plus -те)
• ❌ Пью чай! → ✅ Пей чай! (the imperative of пить is пей)
• ❌ Не читаю это! → ✅ Не читай это! (a prohibition needs the imperative, not the present tense)

Quick check

Which form fits each gap?

1. (читать, ты) ____ книгу!
2. (говорить, вы) ____ медленно, пожалуйста.
3. (писать, ты) ____ письмо!
4. (слушать, вы) ____ музыку.
5. (говорить, ты, with не) ____ так!

Key takeaways

• The imperative gives commands and requests; there is a ты-form (читай, говори, пиши, готовь) and a вы-form (читайте, говорите) for several people or polite address.
• The ты-form comes from the они stem of the present tense with -й, -и or -ь; the вы-form adds -те.
• Reflexive verbs end in -сь / -ся (садись, садитесь), and a few verbs are irregular (будь, пей, ешь).
• Не + imperative is a prohibition (Не говори), and давай / давайте + infinitive suggests doing something together (Давайте читать).