ustedesimperative

Ustedes imperative refers to the set of command forms used with the second-person plural pronoun ustedes in Spanish. These forms are employed to tell a group what to do and are formed from the present subjunctive, specifically the third-person plural. In most Spanish-speaking regions, ustedes is the standard way to address a group, while in Spain the informal plural is usually vosotros; ustedes remains common for formal or neutral address.

Formation and usage: Affirmative commands to a group use the present subjunctive third-person plural endings. For regular verbs, this yields: hablar → hablen, comer → coman, vivir → vivan. Negative commands are formed by placing no before the affirmative form: no hablen, no coman, no vivan. The subject pronoun ustedes is typically omitted in everyday speech.

Irregulars and notable forms: Many common verbs have irregular present-subjunctive third-person plural forms for ustedes. Examples include dar → den, estar → estén, ir → vayan, saber → sepan, ser → sean. Other verbs follow the standard subjunctive pattern with their own stem changes (e.g., pensar → piensen, pedir → pidan).

Regional and syntactic notes: The ustedes imperative is used across most of the Spanish-speaking world, often replacing the vosotros forms in Latin America. In Spain, vosotros forms exist for informal groups, but the ustedes forms remain correct and widely understood for formal or general addressing of a group. Commands with ustedes are either affirmative or negative, with the same underlying subjunctive forms, differing only in the sentence structure.

See also: imperative mood, present subjunctive, usted imperative.