Commands – A Level French Edexcel Revision

Commands in French, also known as the imperative form, are used for giving orders or instructions.
To form regular commands for ‘-er’ verbs such as ‘parler’ (to talk), drop the final ‘-s’ of the present tense ‘tu’ form. For example, ‘Parle!’ - Talk!
For ‘-ir’ and ‘-re’ verbs such as ‘finir’ (to finish) and’ ‘prendre’ (to take), keep the present tense ‘tu’ form without the subject pronoun. For example, ‘Finis tes devoirs!’ - Finish your homework!

Negative commands are formed by placing ‘ne’ before and ‘pas’ after the verb. For example, ‘Ne parle pas!’ - Don’t talk!
The ‘ne’ usually disappears in spoken French, but it is usually retained in writing especially for formal contexts.

Object pronouns (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les) and reflexive pronouns (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) come before the verb in the negative commands.
In positive commands, the object pronouns and reflexive pronouns come after the verb, attached with a hyphen. For example, ‘Donne-le-moi!’ (Give it to me!)
When using ‘me’ and ‘te’ as object pronouns in positive commands, they become ‘moi’ and ‘toi’.

Some verbs, such as ‘être’ (to be), ‘avoir’ (to have) , ‘aller’ (to go), ‘savoir’ (to know) and ‘vouloir’ (to want), have irregular command forms. These forms must be memorised individually.
For example, the commands for ‘être’ are ‘sois’, ‘soyons’, ‘soyez’ for tu, nous and vous respectively.

‘Tu’ commands are used for informal situations, or when speaking with friends, family or children.
‘Vous’ commands are used for formal situations, or when speaking with bosses, teachers or people you are not familiar with. They’re also used when addressing more than one person.