A1

Imperatives in German (der Imperativ)

In this lesson, you will learn the imperatives in German (der Imperativ).

Imperatives in German

An imperative is a form of the verb used when giving orders and Instructions. Three different imperative verb forms of the imperative are used to give instructions or orders to someone in the German language:

➡️ du : you (singular)
➡️ ihr : you (plural)
➡️ Sie : you (formal)

In German, most verbs form imperative like in Table 1.1:

duverb stem (+ e)
ihrverb stem + t
Sieverb stem + en + Sie
Table 1.1

❗ If you know the verb conjugation in the present tense, you can easily make imperatives in German.

Pronounsmachenimperativewartenimperative
ichmachewarte
dumachstmach(e)!wartestwarte!
er/sie/esmachtwartet
wirmachenwarten
ihrmachtmacht!wartetwartet!
siemachenwarten
Siemachenmachen Sie!wartenwarten Sie!
Table 1.2

▶️ du: take the regular “du”-conjugation of the verb and remove its ending “-st”; remove the personal pronoun du, for example, “gehen ➡️ du gehst ➡️ Imperativ: geh!”.

❗ But not where the verb stem ends, for example, in “chn-, fn-, tm-.” In such cases, the “-e” is kept to make the imperative easier to pronounce, for example, “öffnen ➡️ du öffnest ➡️ Imperativ: öffne!”.

▶️ ihr: take the regular “ihr”-conjugation of the verb; remove the personal pronoun “ihr”, for example, “gehen ➡️ Ihr geht ➡️ Imperativ: geht!”

▶️ Sie: take the regular “Sie” conjugation of the verb; put “Sie” after the verb, for example, “gehen ➡️ Imperativ: gehen Sie!”.

❗ If you express a polite request, you can add the word “bitte” (please) after the imperative form, for example, “Kauft bitte Milch.”

❗ Any vowel change in the present tense of a strong verb also occurs in the “du” form of its imperative, and the “-e” is not added.

pronounshelfenimperative
ichhelfe
duhilfsthilf!
er/sie/eshilft
wirhelfen
ihrhelfthelft!
siehelfen
Siehelfenhelfen Sie!
Table 1.3

▶️ du: take the irregular “du”-conjugation of the verb and remove its ending “-st”; remove the personal pronoun du, for example, “nehmen ➡️ du nimmst ➡️ Imperativ: nimm!”.

▶️ ihr: take the irregular “ihr”-conjugation of the verb; remove the personal pronoun “ihr”, for example, “nehmen ➡️ Ihr nehmt ➡️ Imperativ: nehmt!”

▶️ Sie: take the irregular “Sie” conjugation of the verb; put “Sie” after the verb, for example, “nehmen ➡️ Imperativ: nehmen Sie!”.

❗ However, if this vowel change in the present tense involves adding an umlaut (a, o, u ➡️ ä, ö, ü), this umlaut is not added to the “du” form of the imperative.

pronounsfahrenimperatives
ichfahre
dufährstfahr(e)!
er/sie/esfährt
wirfahren
ihrfahrtfahrt!
siefahren
Siefahrenfahren Sie!
Table 1.4

▶️ du: take the regular “du”-conjugation of the verb and remove its ending “-st”; remove the personal pronoun du, for example, “laufen ➡️ du laufst ➡️ Imperativ: lauf(e)!”.

▶️ ihr: take the regular “ihr”-conjugation of the verb; remove the personal pronoun “ihr”, for example, “laufen ➡️ Ihr lauft ➡️ Imperativ: lauft!”

▶️ Sie: take the regular “Sie” conjugation of the verb; put “Sie” after the verb, for example, “laufen ➡️ Imperativ: laufen Sie!”.

The imperative form of a reflexive verb

The reflexive Pronoun comes immediately after the verb. For example, the verb “sich setzen” (to sit down):

PronounsImperative
dusetz dich!
sit down!
ihrsetz euch!
sit down!
Siesetzen Sie sich!
sit down!
Table 1.5

The imperative form of a separable verb

The separable verbs use the same form when in imperative. The prefix is separated from the verb and is placed at the end of the clause in imperatives.

pronounsaufmachenimperatives
ichmache auf
dumachst aufmach(e) auf!
er/sie/esmacht auf
wirmachen auf
ihrmacht aufmacht auf!
siemachen auf
Siemachen aufmachen Sie auf!
Table 1.6

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button

AdBlock Detected :(

Please disable AdBlock