käsklus

Käsklus is the imperative mood in Estonian grammar. It is used to express commands, requests, or instructions directed at the listener or listeners. The form is typically applied to second-person subjects, both singular and plural, and the subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb form itself marks person and number. The exact endings and stem changes depend on the verb class, and irregular verbs can have special imperative forms.

The negative imperative is formed with the particle ära before the verb, as in Ära tee seda (Don’t do that). To soften a command or turn it into a polite request, speakers often use Palun followed by the imperative, for example Palun tule (Please come).

In practice, käsklus appears in everyday speech, signage, manuals, and instructional text. It can convey a range of force from casual instructions to urgent directives, and it is commonly used in direct address. The mood is distinguished from other verb moods such as the indicative or the conditional, and standard Estonian typically does not employ a third-person imperative form.

Examples include Tule! (Come here.) Minge! (Go there, plural.) Ära tee seda. (Don’t do that.) Palun oota. (Please wait.) The imperative remains a core tool for giving clear, direct instructions in Estonian, while softer or more formal requests are achieved through politeness markers rather than a separate mood.