The Imperative in Portuguese

Like other Romance languages, Portuguese has an abundance of verb forms. Adding to the pile is the Imperative mood. 

We use the Imperative to give instructions and commands, urge someone to do something, and give spatial directions, among others.

Now, depending on (1) whether the tone is casual or formal, (2) you are affirming or negating something, or (3) you are talking to a single person or a group of people, there you will use 1 out of 4 different Imperative forms*: 

* There are a few other Imperative forms that I am skipping since these are archaic and seldom used in modern Portuguese. 

Here are a few examples:

In all likelihood, the challenge is not so much knowing when to use the Imperative as it is recalling the right Imperative form that matches the context (out of the 4 forms mentioned above).

In what follows, I will share two alternative strategies to help you recall the Imperative verb form that suits your context. Read on.

Strategy 1 – Tweaking the endings of the first-person of the Present tense

This strategy is simple, straightforward, and popular among beginners. 

You start with the first-person of the Present Simple of the verb in question and, from there,  you tweak its ending to find the Imperative form you are looking for. All you need is to learn a few tweaking patterns as shown below.

But there’s a caveat! It only works for regular verbs.

Granted, most verbs are regular and therefore, this strategy is still widely applicable and useful. However, as you may know, some of the most frequently used verbs are irregular.

That said, let’s learn these tweaks. 

Reading tips! Learn more about regular conjugation:
Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Present Tense
Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Past Tense

Singular and informal (tu)

In informal contexts, the Imperative form varies depending on if it’s part of an affirmative or negative sentence. 

To find the affirmative and negative variants, and for each conjugation group, we tweak the endings of the first-person of the Present tense according to the following patterns: 

Singular and formal (você)

In formal contexts, there’s only one Imperative form (regardless of whether the sentence is affirmative or otherwise). 

To find it, and for each conjugation group, we tweak the endings of the first-person of the Present tense according to the following patterns: 

Plural (vocês)

Finally, when we talk to a group of people, we tweak the endings of the first-person Present tense according to the following patterns: 

Again, all these tweaks in spelling won’t work with irregular verbs. To deal with those, you’ll have to adopt the second strategy below or learn it by heart over time. 

Irregular verbs