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French Imperative
The French imperative gives commands, instructions, and suggestions, and it has only three persons: tu, nous, and vous. Each one is simply the present-tense form with the subject pronoun dropped:
Tu prends le bus. → Prends le bus !
So if you know the present tense, you already know almost every form. What the imperative really tests is two details: -er verbs lose the final -s of the tu form, and pronouns change sides depending on whether the command is affirmative or negative. Both details fit on this page, along with the four irregular verbs worth knowing.
In short
- Take the present-tense tu, nous, or vous form and drop the pronoun: Prends ! Prenons ! Prenez !
- -er verbs drop the tu-form -s: Parle ! (it returns before y and en: Vas-y !)
- Affirmative commands attach pronouns after the verb with hyphens: Prends-le. Negative commands keep them in front: Ne le prends pas.
imperative verbpronounnegation· hover a highlighted word for its label
Three commands from one tense
The recipe: borrow the tu, nous, or vous form of the present and delete the pronoun. The nous form means "let’s do something"; the vous form serves as both the plural and the polite command. The only spelling trap sits in the tu form:
| Person | parler | finir | prendre |
|---|---|---|---|
| (tu) | Parle ! | Finis ! | Prends ! |
| (nous) | Parlons ! | Finissons ! | Prenons ! |
| (vous) | Parlez ! | Finissez ! | Prenez ! |
The tu-form -s
- -er verbs — and aller — drop the final -s: Parle ! Regarde ! Va !
- -ir and -re verbs keep it: Finis ! Prends ! Attends !
- Before y and en, the dropped -s comes back for liaison: Vas-y ! Manges-en !
Watch the road!
— The present says tu regardes; the command Regarde drops both the tu and the -s.
Finish your soup before leaving the table.
— -ir and -re verbs keep the -s: Finis.
Take the second street on the right.
— The vous command is both plural and polite — the form you hear in directions.
Let’s go to the market before noon.
— The nous form is how French says "let’s": Allons.
Go on, I’m listening.
— Before y, the dropped -s returns for liaison: Vas.
Four irregular verbs
Four verbs refuse the recipe. Two of them, être and avoir, are everywhere; sache is formal but real; and veuillez survives mostly as a fixed politeness formula — the "please" of signs, announcements, and administrative emails.
| Verb | tu | nous | vous |
|---|---|---|---|
| être | sois | soyons | soyez |
| avoir | aie | ayons | ayez |
| savoir | sache | sachons | sachez |
| vouloir | — | — | veuillez |
Be good during the trip.
— être has its own set: Sois, soyons, soyez.
Please wait a few minutes.
— Veuillez + infinitive is the formal "please" of official French.
The negative imperative
To forbid instead of order, wrap ne … pas around the same form — nothing else changes. (The full system of never, nothing, and friends lives on the advanced negation page.)
Ne parle pas si fort, le bébé dort.
Crucially, any pronoun — object or reflexive — stays in its normal place before the verb, exactly as in an ordinary sentence:
Ne t’inquiète pas, on a le temps.
Affirmative commands: pronouns jump after the verb
In an affirmative command the verb comes first, so the pronoun attaches after it with a hyphen — and me and te take their strong forms moi and toi. Reflexive verbs follow exactly the same flip:
Assieds-toi. Dépêchez-vous, le train part !
Taste it, it’s delicious!
— Affirmative: the pronoun le rides behind the verb on a hyphen.
Don’t taste it, it’s too hot!
— Negative: le steps back in front of goûte.
Wait for me in front of the bakery.
— After the verb, me becomes moi.
Two pronouns: Donne-le-moi
When two pronouns follow the verb, the direct object comes first, then the person — hyphens everywhere. The full ordering system, including y and en, belongs to the double object pronouns guide; here, one example is enough.
Give it to me, please.
— After the verb, the object le comes before moi.
Common mistakes
✗Parles plus fort, je ne t’entends pas !
✓Parle plus fort, je ne t’entends pas !
-er verbs drop the final -s in the tu command. The -s belongs to the present tense (tu parles), not to the imperative.
✗Vas au lit, il est tard.
✓Va au lit, il est tard.
Aller drops the -s like an -er verb: va. The -s only comes back before y — vas-y.
✗Passe-moi-le, s’il te plaît.
✓Passe-le-moi, s’il te plaît.
After the verb, the direct object comes first, then the person: verb, object, recipient.
✗Ne lève-toi pas avant huit heures.
✓Ne te lève pas avant huit heures.
In a negative command the pronoun returns to its place before the verb, and toi becomes te again.
✗Écoute-me bien.
✓Écoute-moi bien.
After the verb, me and te take their strong forms moi and toi.
Check yourself
1 / 5___ tes légumes ! (manger, tu)
2 / 5Ce livre, ___ à la bibliothèque avant vendredi. (rendre + le, tu)
3 / 5___ patient, le médecin arrive dans une minute. (être, tu)
4 / 5Ce document, ne ___ pas encore. (signer + le, tu)
5 / 5C’est ton tour, ___ ! (aller + y, tu)
Frequently asked questions
How do you form the imperative in French?
Take the present-tense tu, nous, or vous form and drop the subject pronoun: Parle ! Finissons ! Prenez ! The nous form means "let’s", and -er verbs also lose the final -s of the tu form.
Why is there no -s in "parle" but an -s in "finis"?
By convention, -er verbs (and aller) drop the tu-form -s in the imperative, while -ir and -re verbs keep it: parle but finis, prends. The dropped -s returns before y and en for liaison: vas-y, manges-en.
Where do object pronouns go in French commands?
In affirmative commands they follow the verb with hyphens, and me/te become moi/toi: prends-le, donne-moi ça. In negative commands they return to their normal place before the verb: ne le prends pas, ne me donne rien.
What does "veuillez" mean in French?
Veuillez is the vous imperative of vouloir, used with an infinitive as a formal "please": veuillez patienter (please wait). You meet it constantly in signs, announcements, and official emails, almost never in casual speech.
How do you say "let’s" in French?
Use the nous form of the imperative without the pronoun: allons (let’s go), commençons (let’s start), prenons un café (let’s have a coffee). It works with any verb, and reflexive verbs add nous after the verb: levons-nous.
Memory tip
A command is just a present-tense sentence with the subject snipped off. Affirmative: pronouns trail the verb on hyphens, with moi and toi at their strong best. Add ne … pas, and the pronouns duck back in front of the verb where they always live.
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