​Impératif Introduction

• ​Imperative is used to give commands, demands, and advice to others.

• ​Some examples in English are:

  • ​Finish your homework!

  • ​Take out your Chromebooks.

  • ​Let's go to the movies.

• ​In English, the imperative can ONLY be used in the second person and first person plural (we).

• ​This rule is the SAME in French. The imperative is ONLY used in the TU, NOUS, and VOUS forms

​Impératif Conjugation

• ​Luckily, the conjugations for the impératif are just the present tense conjugations of verbs WITHOUT the subject pronoun

• ​Examples:

  • ​Finish your homework.

  • ​Finir (tu)

  • ​(Tu) finis

  • ​Finis tes devoirs.

​Impératif Exceptions: ER verbs in the TU form

• ​They typically end in "ES"

• ​However, in the imperative you will drop the s in the TU form

• ​Example:

  • ​Speak French

  • ​(Tu) parles français

• ​Parle français!

​Impératif Exceptions: 3 Irregulars

• Avoir - to have

  • ​(Tu) aie

  • ​(Nous) ayons

  • ​(Vous) ayez

• ​Être - to be

  • ​(Tu) sois

  • ​(Nous) soyons

  • ​(Vous) soyez

• ​Savoir - to know

  • ​(Tu) saches

  • ​(Nous) sachons

  • ​(Vous) sachez

​The most challenging part of the imperative....

​Remembering the present tense conjugation!

​

​Let's try a few examples.

Aller:

• Aller is an irregular verb in French.

• ​Tu vas

• ​But it technically ends in ER so in the imperative...

• ​we drop the "s"

• ​Va

Negative Imperative

• Example: Don't watch TV.

• ​Add NE...PAS around the conjugated verb.

• ​Ne regarde pas la télé.