Imperative

An imperative is a grammatical mood used to express commands, requests, instructions, or orders. It is directed at the addressee and typically presents an action to be carried out. In many languages, the subject is understood rather than spoken; in English the imperative often uses the base verb form, as in "Close the door." The form can also appear in exhortations and requests, such as "Please sit down."

Formation and usage vary by language. In English the subject you is usually implied, and politeness can be achieved with "please" or modal substitutes. Some languages have distinct imperative forms for informal and formal address, or separate plural forms. Periphrastic constructions such as "Let us" express exhortations or proposals, while modifiers may soften commands.

Negation and tone are integral to imperatives. Negative imperatives often require a preceding negator like "do not" in English or a dedicated negative particle in other languages; word order and intonation can convey politeness or severity. Some languages employ special mood markers or auxiliary verbs to mark permission, prohibition, or urgency.

In computer science, the term imperative refers to a programming paradigm that uses sequences of commands to change a program's state. Imperative languages, including C, Java, and Python, emphasize assignments, control structures, and procedure calls. This contrasts with declarative and functional styles, where program meaning is expressed more directly and state changes are minimized.