A1 · Imperative

Kommt! Macht das!

Command to a group you address as ihr

Formihr-Form des Verbs ohne ihr: Kommt! Macht!

Meaning and usage

The ihr command tells a group of people you know well to do something. You take the ordinary present tense form for ihr and leave out the pronoun ihr. The verb keeps its usual ending -t, so ihr kommt becomes Kommt! and ihr macht becomes Macht!.

Use it with friends, family, classmates and other people you would each call du. A common mistake is to use the du command for a group, as in Komm! to two friends. To a group the command keeps the -t: Kommt!

Examples 5

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Kinder, bitte die Tür zu!

    Show answer

    Correct answer: macht

    Kinder is a group you call ihr, so the command is the ihr form without ihr: macht.

    • machen as a command needs Sie after it: Machen Sie die Tür zu!
    • machst is the present tense du form, not a command.
    • mach is the command for one person.

In this topic: Imperative

  1. Komm! Mach das! du command: verb stem, no du, no -st
  2. Kommt! Macht das! Command to a group you address as ihr
  3. Kommen Sie! Formal command: verb first, then Sie
  4. Nimm! Lies! Fahr! du-command with e→i or e→ie vowel change
  5. Sei! Seid! Seien Sie! Commands with sein: be
  6. bitte, mal, doch Softens a command: please, a moment, why not
  7. Gehen wir! Let's do something together

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.