imperativemood

Imperative mood is a grammatical mood used to issue commands, requests, or exhortations. It is typically marked on the verb and often appears without an explicit subject, with the understood subject being the listener or listeners. The imperative can express orders, invitations, or prohibitions and, in some languages, includes hortative or inclusive forms such as “let us.”

Formation and syntax: Imperative forms are created by altering the verb’s morphology or by using periphrastic constructions. Negative imperatives are formed with a negation particle placed before or after the verb, depending on the language. Some languages distinguish formal and informal imperatives, or singular and plural forms. In many languages the imperative is directly attached to the verb stem, while others rely on auxiliary verbs or clitics.

Person, number, and politeness: Many languages have distinct imperative forms for second-person singular, second-person plural, and polite forms for formal address. Some languages also have inclusive “let us” imperatives (hortatives) such as for proposing a joint action. English typically uses the second-person imperative and lacks formal address forms, though phrases like “Please” or “Let us” convey politeness or inclusivity.

Examples: English uses commands like “Sit down” or “Please sit.” Spanish offers “habla” (informal singular), “hable” (formal), and “hablen” (plural). German provides “geh” (informal singular), “gehen Sie” (formal), and “gehen wir” (let us go). French features forms such as “va” (tu) and “allons” (us, inclusive). Italian uses “parla” (tu), “parli” (Lei), and “parlate” (voi).

Declension and limitations: Some languages lack a dedicated imperative mood and express commands with the present subjunctive or other periphrastic constructions. The imperative thus varies cross-linguistically in form and usage, while serving the common function of directing actions. See also: mood, subjunctive, jussive, hortative.