Affirmative commands with usted and ustedes

Hable más despacio, por favor.Speak more slowly, please.

To give an instruction to someone you address as usted, or to more than one person as ustedes, Spanish uses a command form built in a very particular way — and it's worth learning the trick, because it isn't the same trick used for tú.

Quick shortcut: take the yo form of the present, drop the -o, and add the opposite vowel ending — -e/-en for -ar verbs, -a/-an for -er/-ir verbs. Hablo → hable/hablen. Como → coma/coman.

Building the command from the yo form

These forms are actually the present subjunctive — a mood you'll meet properly later — but you don't need that concept yet to use them: for most verbs, you can build the same forms mechanically. Start from the present-tense yo form, remove the final -o, and add the opposite-vowel ending:

Hable más despacio, por favor. (Speak more slowly, please.) Coman algo antes de salir. (Eat something before going out — to more than one person.) Escriba su nombre aquí. (Write your name here.) Esperen un momento. (Wait a moment — to more than one person.)

This is not the tú command

This is a genuinely different mechanism from the tú command, which simply copies the él/ella form of the present (habla, come, escribe). The usted/ustedes command instead starts from the yo form and switches to the opposite vowel family:

✅ (tú) habla vs. ✅ (usted) hable — two different forms for the same verb, depending only on who you're commanding.

Mixing them up is the single most common mistake with this topic — reaching for the tú form (habla) when speaking formally, or vice versa.

Only usted is inherently the formal address; ustedes is simply its plural. In Latin America, ustedes is the everyday plural "you" for any group, formal or not — Spain is where it contrasts with an informal plural, vosotros, and only there does ustedes read as specifically formal.

Irregular yo forms carry over

Because the command is built from the yo form, any irregularity already in that form carries straight over — no extra irregularity to learn:

Tener → tengo → tenga/tengan. (Tenga cuidado. — Be careful.) Hacer → hago → haga/hagan. (Haga la tarea. — Do the homework.) Decir → digo → diga/digan. (Diga la verdad. — Tell the truth.) Poner → pongo → ponga/pongan. (Pongan la mesa. — Set the table.) Salir → salgo → salga/salgan. (Salga de aquí. — Get out of here.) Conocer → conozco → conozca/conozcan. (Conozca nuestro menú. — Get to know our menu.)

Stem-changing verbs behave the same way, since the stem change is already present in the yo form: cerrar → cierro → cierre/cierren (Cierre la puerta.), volver → vuelvo → vuelva/vuelvan (Vuelva pronto.), pedir → pido → pida/pidan (Pida un café.), dormir → duermo → duerma/duerman (Duerma bien.).

Spelling changes that keep the sound the same

A few common verbs need a small spelling adjustment so the consonant keeps its original sound in front of -e: -car verbs change c → qu, -gar verbs change g → gu, and -zar verbs change z → c:

Buscar → busco → busque/busquen (Busque su asiento. — Find your seat.) Llegar → llego → llegue/lleguen (Llegue temprano. — Arrive early.) Empezar → empiezo → empiece/empiecen (Empiece cuando quiera. — Start whenever you like.)

Common irregular present-subjunctive forms

A few common verbs don't follow the yo-form pattern at all — their present-subjunctive forms are irregular in their own right, and simply have to be learned:

Vaya a casa. (Go home.) Sea amable. (Be kind.) Esté atento. (Pay attention.) Dé su opinión. (Give your opinion.)

Dé carries a written accent to tell it apart from the preposition de.

Where pronouns go

Object and reflexive pronouns attach to the end of the command, exactly like with tú — see position of object pronouns. Attaching a pronoun often shifts where the stress falls, so a written accent is added to keep the original stress in place:

Hábleme más despacio. (Speak to me more slowly.) Siéntense, por favor. (Have a seat, please — plural.) Dígame su nombre. (Tell me your name.)

Common mistakes

• ❌ Habla más despacio (to someone addressed as usted) → ✅ Hable más despacio. (habla is the tú command — usted needs the opposite-vowel form.)
• ❌ Tenge cuidado. → ✅ Tenga cuidado. (built from the yo form tengo, not from the infinitive.)
• ❌ Hableme más despacio. → ✅ Hábleme más despacio. (a pronoun attached to the end needs a written accent to keep the original stress on ha-.)

Quick check

1. Build the usted command for escribir.
2. Build the ustedes command for volver.
3. What's wrong with using habla to tell your boss to speak more slowly, and how would you fix it?
4. Add the pronoun me to the end of diga — what changes?

Key takeaways

• Build the usted/ustedes command from the yo form of the present: drop the -o, add the opposite-vowel ending (-e/-en for -ar, -a/-an for -er/-ir).
• This is a different mechanism from the tú command, which just copies the él/ella present form — don't mix the two up.
• Irregular yo forms and stem changes carry straight over into the command.
• -car, -gar and -zar verbs need a spelling change before -e to keep the sound: busque, llegue, empiece.
• Ir, ser, estar, dar and saber are fully irregular: vaya, sea, esté, dé, sepa.
• Pronouns attach to the end, often adding a written accent to keep the original stress.