What is the Imperative? (Imperativ)
- We use the Imperative for demands and commands.
- Someone is personally talking to one or more people.
- The Imperative only exists in the "you" forms: „du“, „ihr“ and the formal „Sie“.
Examples:
- „Geh jetzt ins Bett!“ (du)
- „Geht bitte einkaufen!“ (ihr)
- „Gehen Sie nach Hause!“ (Sie)
Construction of the German Imperative
Formal Form („Sie“):
In the formal form, we construct the imperative with infinitive + Sie.
- „Gehen Sie nach Hause!"
Plural („ihr“):
In the plural form, we use the conjugated present tense of the verb (2nd person plural) without the pronoun.
- „Geht (
ihr) nach Hause!"
Singular („du“):
In the singular form, we use the conjugated form (2nd person singular) without the ending and drop the pronoun.
- „Geh(
st) (du) nach Hause!"
Irregularities in Singular:
The vowel change in Strong verbs from "e" to "i/ie" is also done in the Imperative form. The vowel change from "a" to "ä" is not.
- „Hilf deinem Bruder!“ („du hilfst“)
- „Fahr langsamer!“ („du fährst“)
To sound more polite or speak more formally, we can add an "e" to the end of the verb.
- „Geh(e) nach Hause.“
If the verb stem ends in "-d" / "-t" or "-m" / "-n," we MUST add an "e" to the end.
- „Warte noch 5 Minuten!“
Exceptions:
There are almost no irregular verbs in the German imperative form. These are the only exceptions:
Word Order
The Imperative form is always in position 1.
There is only a subject in the formal form ("Sie").
Imperative of Separable Verbs
Separable verbs are also separated in the imperative form. The prefix goes to the end of the sentence.
- „Kommen Sie bitte mit!“ – mitkommen
- „Räumt euer Zimmer auf!“ – aufräumen
- „Hol deine Mutter ab!“ – abholen
Remember: Be Polite!
When spoken quickly and loudly, the imperative is always impolite and unfriendly!
The words „bitte“ or „bitte mal“ make the sentence more polite and friendlier.
- „Geh bitte mal in den Supermarkt.“
- „Hol mich bitte am Bahnhof ab.“
If you aren’t really mad at somebody, you always should use „bitte“ together with the imperative form. Without „bitte“ people will definitely perceive it as rude and unfriendly.
To express yourself even more politely, use the Konjunktiv 2:
- „Würdest du bitte mal in den Supermarkt gehen?“
- „Würdest du mich bitte am Bahnhof abholen?“
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Related Topics:
Entire lesson in German only: Imperativ
You can find more lessons on Verbs here:
- Was sind Verben? (What are Verbs?)
- Starke Verben (Strong Verbs)
- „sein“ und „haben“ ("sein" and "haben")
- Reflexive Verben (Reflexive Verbs)
- Trennbare & Untrennbare Verben (Separable & Inseparable Verbs)
- Modalverben (Modal Verbs)
- Partizip 1 (Present Participle)
- Partizip 2 (Past Participle)
- Das Verb „werden” (Verb "werden")
- Das Verb „lassen” (Verb "lassen")
- Konjunktiv 1 (Subjunctive 1)
- Konjunktiv 2 (Subjunctive 2)
- Das Passiv (Passive Voice)
- Vorgangspassiv (Process Passive)
- Das Passiv in allen zeitformen (Process Passive in all tenses)
- Verben ohne Passiv (Verbs without Passive voice)
- Zustandpassiv (Status Passive)
- Das unpersönliche Passiv (Impersonal Passive)
- Verben mit Ergänzungen (Verbs with Complements)
- Verben mit Nominativ (Verbs with Nominative)
- Verben mit Akkusativ (Verbs with Accusative)
- Verben mit doppeltem Akkusativ (Verbs with double Accusative)
- Verben mit Dativ (Verbs with Dative)
- Verben mit Akkusativ & Dativ (Verbs with Accusative & Dative)
- Verben mit Genitiv (Verbs with Genitive)
- Verben mit Präpositionen (Verbs with Prepositions)
Lists on the topic of German verbs:
- Die 30 wichtigsten Verben mit Vokalwechsel (The 30 most important verbs with vowel change)
- Untrennbare Präfixe (Inseparable Prefixes)
- Wechselpräfixe (Two-case Prefixes)
- Unregelmäßige Partizip 2 Formen (Irregular Participle 2 forms)
- Nomen-Verb-Verbindungen (Noun-Verb compounds)
You can find an overview of all topics under German Grammar.
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