impérative

The imperative mood, or impératif in some languages, is a grammatical category used to issue commands, requests, or instructions. It encodes the speech act directly in the verb form and often treats the listener as the target of the action. In many languages the subject is implied and not expressed, though some systems distinguish formal and informal address or include explicit second-person forms.

In English, the imperative uses the base form of the verb without an explicit subject: “Close the door.” Negation is typically formed with do: “Do not touch that.” Politeness or softening can be achieved with words like “please” or by using inclusive constructions such as “Let’s go,” which expresses a suggestion rather than a direct command.

Across languages, the imperative has various person and politeness paradigms. Many languages create distinct forms for informal second-person (du, tú, you informal) and formal or plural address (Sie, usted, vous, ustedes). For example, Spanish contrasts habla (tú) with hable (usted) and hablad/hablen for vosotros/ustedes. French contrasts viens/parle (tu) with venez/parlez (vous). German provides komm (du) or kommst in some contexts, and Kommen Sie (Sie) for formal address; it also has forms for plural: kommt, kommt, etc. Italian uses parla (tu), parli (Lei), parlate (voi). Portuguese uses fala (tu) and fale (você). These systems reflect differing degrees of formality and social distance.

Usage varies by register and context. Imperatives can be plain directives, polite requests, or exhortations, and some languages include special negative or softened forms. In many languages, the imperative coexists with related moods like the jussive or hortatory, which express commands or proposals in the third person or inclusive first person.