This week we’re going to show how to conjugate the French imperative. This mood is used to give orders, make requests and recommendations, express desires, and offer advice.

Conjugating the Imperative

The imperative only exists in tu, nous, and vous forms. The conjugations are mostly identical to their simple present tense counterparts, with some exceptions that we’ll note below. Unlike other tenses and moods, subject pronouns are not used in conjunction with the imperative.

–ER Verbs and –IR Verbs Conjugated like –ER Verbs

The nous and vous imperatives of regular, stem-changing, and spelling change –ER verbs are the same as the simple present forms. The tu form is based on the simple present but loses the final –s in the imperative. Irregular –IR verbs that follow regular –ER conjugation rules in the simple present also follow –ER rules in the imperative.

Pronoun	Parler to speak	Geler to freeze	Aller to go	Cueillir to pick
Tu	parle	gèle	va	cueille
Nous	parlons	gelons	allons	cueillons
Vous	parlez	gelez	allez	cueillez

–IR Verbs and –RE Verbs

Except for a handful of irregular verbs (see below) and those irregular –IR verbs that are conjugated like regular –ER verbs (see above), most regular and irregular –IR and –ER verbs follow regular present tense conjugation rules in the imperative.

Pronoun	Choisir to choose	Descendre to descend	Faire to make/do
Tu	choisis	descends	fais
Nous	choisissons	descendons	faisons
Vous	choisissez	descendez	faites

Irregular –IR and –RE Imperatives

The following verbs are irregular in the imperative:

Pronoun	Avoir to have	Être to be	Savoir to know	Vouloir to want
Tu	aie	sois	sache	veuille
Nous	ayons	soyons	sachons	—
Vous	ayez	soyez	sachez	veuillez