A1 · Grammar · Imperativ
German Imperative: Commands for du, ihr and Sie
The ruledu drops its ending and its pronoun, ihr uses its ordinary present form, and Sie puts the verb first and keeps the pronoun.
The three forms
| Infinitive | du | ihr | Sie |
|---|---|---|---|
| machen | Mach! | Macht! | Machen Sie! |
| kommen | Komm! | Kommt! | Kommen Sie! |
| warten | Warte! | Wartet! | Warten Sie! |
| sprechen | Sprich! | Sprecht! | Sprechen Sie! |
| fahren | Fahr! | Fahrt! | Fahren Sie! |
| sein | Sei! | Seid! | Seien Sie! |
| haben | Hab! | Habt! | Haben Sie! |
The du form is the present-tense du form with -st removed. Where that leaves an unpronounceable ending, an -e comes back: warte, öffne, arbeite. In writing you will also see an optional -e on verbs that do not need it (Komme!), but it sounds stiff and modern usage drops it.
Strong verbs: one change survives, the other does not
This is the detail that separates a confident imperative from a guessed one. The e → i change carries into the du command; the a → ä umlaut does not.
| Change | Infinitive | du (present) | du (imperative) |
|---|---|---|---|
| e → i | geben | du gibst | Gib! |
| e → ie | lesen | du liest | Lies! |
| e → i | nehmen | du nimmst | Nimm! |
| a → ä | fahren | du fährst | Fahr! |
| a → ä | schlafen | du schläfst | Schlaf! |
Where it goes wrong
Fähr vorsichtig!
Fahr vorsichtig!
The umlaut belongs to the du and er present forms only. In the imperative fahren falls back to its plain stem, while geben keeps its vowel change and gives Gib!
Softening it
A bare German imperative is blunter than an English one. In practice it is almost always padded: with bitte, with mal, or by not using the imperative at all.
- Mach bitte das Fenster zu. Please close the window. bitte is doing real work here, not decoration.
- Komm mal her. Come here a moment. mal takes the edge off; it has no translation.
- Könnten Sie mir bitte helfen? Could you help me please? A question with könnten: the politest option, and very common.
- Gehen wir! Let's go! The wir form, used for suggestions.
Common questions
Why does the du imperative have no pronoun?
Because the form itself already identifies the addressee: it is what remains after -st is stripped off the du form. The Sie imperative is the exception and must keep its pronoun, since 'Kommen!' alone would be an infinitive.
Do strong verbs keep their vowel change in the imperative?
The e→i and e→ie verbs do: geben gives Gib, lesen gives Lies, nehmen gives Nimm. The a→ä verbs do not: fahren gives Fahr, not Fähr. That asymmetry is the commonest imperative mistake.
How do I give a polite instruction in German?
Add bitte, or ask instead of telling. 'Könnten Sie bitte…' and 'Würden Sie bitte…' are the standard polite forms, and in service situations they are more usual than the imperative even where English would command.
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