politeimperative

The polite imperative is a linguistic mood or construction used to issue commands or requests in a way that preserves the addressee’s face and minimizes imposition. It contrasts with a direct imperative by incorporating strategies that signal politeness, deference, or social distance. In many languages, politeness is achieved through modal verbs, honorific forms, or specific sentence particles that accompany imperatives.

In English, politeness appears through please, indirect phrasing, or mitigated structures such as could you... or would you mind... For example, a basic command like Close the door becomes Please close the door, or Could you close the door, please? These variants reduce face threat by reframing the act as a request rather than a direct command.

Cross-linguistically, polite imperatives are realized through various morphosyntactic devices. German tends to use conditional forms: Könnten Sie bitte die Tür schließen? (Could you please close the door?). Japanese commonly uses the te-form plus kudasai: Doa o shimete kudasai (Please close the door). Korean uses honorific or formal endings: 문을 닫아 주세요. Spanish and French provide formal imperatives with usted or vous, e.g., Cierre la puerta, por favor; Fermez la porte, s’il vous plaît. Chinese frequently employs 请 (please) with the verb: qǐng guān mén (Please close the door).

The concept is connected to politeness theory, particularly strategies for minimizing threats to negative and positive face. While appropriate in many social contexts, the polite imperative can vary in acceptability depending on culture, relationship, and situation.