How many imperative forms does French have?

Three: tu, nous, and vous. There is no il or ils imperative, because you cannot address someone who is not present. Orders about a third party use que plus the subjunctive, as in qu'il vienne.

How do you form the imperative in French?

Use the present-tense form without its subject pronoun. Verbs in -er drop the final -s in the tu form: tu chantes gives chante. Être, avoir, savoir, and vouloir take their imperative from the subjunctive: sois, aie, sache, veuille.

Where do object pronouns go with an imperative?

After the verb, joined by a hyphen, in an affirmative command: dis-le-moi. Before the verb, with no hyphen, in a negative one: ne me le dis pas. The affirmative also swaps me and te for moi and toi.

How do you say let's in French?

Use the nous imperative, which is the present nous form without the pronoun: partons, let's go; mangeons, let's eat; ne restons pas ici, let's not stay here. No extra word corresponding to let's is needed.

Is the French imperative impolite?

Not inherently, but it is direct. In shops and offices French usually softens it with s'il vous plaît, or replaces it with a question or a conditional: pourriez-vous m'aider ? For written instructions the infinitive avoids the issue altogether.

French grammar · Beginner

The French Imperative Mood: Three Forms, Two Word Orders, One Missing Subject

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

The imperative mood, l'impératif, is the form French uses for orders, instructions, advice, and invitations. It has only three persons — tu, nous, and vous — and it drops the subject pronoun entirely, so parlez is a command while vous parlez is a statement.

Prenez la première rue à droite.

Take the first street on the right.

What it is

An imperative is a verb addressed straight at someone, so French sees no need to name them. Removing the subject pronoun is the whole grammatical signal: the form itself is borrowed from the present tense. Because there is no subject, the imperative has only the three persons you can actually address — one familiar listener, a group including yourself, and a formal or plural listener.

Attends. Attendons. Attendez. — Wait. Let's wait. Wait. (formal or plural)

How to spot it

A sentence-initial verb with no subject in front of it is an imperative. If a pronoun is attached behind the verb with a hyphen, that confirms it.

Écoutez bien. — Listen carefully.
Allons-y. — Let's go.
Dis-moi la vérité. — Tell me the truth.
Ne partez pas tout de suite. — Don't leave straight away.

The nous form is how French says let's. There is no separate construction for it, unlike English.

Imperative Mood Quick Reference

The three imperative forms and where they come from

Person	Source	parler	attendre
tu	present tu, minus -s for -er verbs	parle	attends
nous	present nous	parlons	attendons
vous	present vous	parlez	attendez
Negative	ne … pas around the verb	ne parle pas	n'attends pas
With a pronoun	hyphen after the verb	parle-moi	attends-moi
Irregular	from the subjunctive	sois, aie, sache	veuille

Common Imperative Mood Examples in French

The imperative does more than give orders:

Instructions and Directions

Tournez à gauche après le pont.: Turn left after the bridge.
Appuyez sur le bouton rouge.: Press the red button.
Remplissez le formulaire en majuscules.: Fill in the form in capitals.
Suivez-moi, c'est par ici.: Follow me, it's this way.

The vous form is standard for anything addressed to the public, from road signs to instruction manuals.

Advice and Encouragement

Repose-toi, tu as l'air fatigué.: Get some rest, you look tired.
Prends ton temps.: Take your time.
N'aie pas peur de demander.: Don't be afraid to ask.
Essayez encore une fois.: Try once more.

In this use the imperative is friendly rather than commanding; the tone comes from the context, not the form.

Let's, With the Nous Form

Allons au cinéma ce soir.: Let's go to the cinema tonight.
Prenons un café.: Let's have a coffee.
Ne restons pas ici.: Let's not stay here.
Dépêchons-nous.: Let's hurry.

The nous imperative is identical to the present tense nous form, minus the pronoun.

Set Phrases

Tiens, regarde ça.: Here, look at this.
Dis donc, tu exagères.: Come on, that's a bit much.
Voyons, ce n'est pas si grave.: Come now, it isn't that serious.
Veuillez agréer mes salutations.: Yours sincerely. (letter closing)

Tiens, écoute, and voyons have drifted away from their literal meanings and now work as discourse markers.

How the French Imperative Works

The forms are borrowed, the subject is deleted, and the pronouns move. Those three facts account for almost everything.

The Forms Come From the Present Tense

Take the present-tense form and remove the pronoun. Nous and vous are unchanged; the tu form loses its -s for verbs whose infinitive ends in -er, and for ouvrir, offrir, souffrir, and cueillir.

Choisis une place et assieds-toi.

Pick a seat and sit down.

Present tense minus the pronoun.

Four Verbs Borrow the Subjunctive Instead

Être gives sois, soyons, soyez; avoir gives aie, ayons, ayez; savoir gives sache, sachons, sachez; vouloir gives veuille, veuillons, veuillez. All four are taken from the present subjunctive rather than the indicative.

Soyez à l'heure et ayez vos papiers sur vous.

Be on time and have your papers with you.

être, avoir, savoir, vouloir → subjunctive.

Affirmative Commands Put Pronouns Behind the Verb

Object, reflexive, and adverbial pronouns follow the verb and are joined with hyphens. Me and te become moi and toi in that position, which is why you say donne-moi and not donne-me.

Passe-moi le journal, s'il te plaît.

Pass me the paper, please.

Verb first, pronoun after, hyphen between.

Negative Commands Restore Normal Order

With ne … pas, the pronouns go back in front of the verb, lose their hyphens, and revert to me and te. The result looks like an ordinary sentence with the subject missing.

Ne me parle pas sur ce ton.

Don't talk to me like that.

Negation cancels the inversion.

The Imperative Cannot Talk About Third Parties

There is no il or ils imperative. To express an order about someone else, French uses que plus the subjunctive: qu'il attende, let him wait. That construction is a subjunctive, not an imperative, even though it does an imperative's work.

Qu'ils entrent, nous sommes prêts.

Let them come in, we're ready.

Third person orders use que plus the subjunctive.

Common Mistakes with Imperative Mood

Incorrect: Vous prenez la première rue à droite, s'il vous plaît. — Take the first street on the right, please.

Correct: Prenez la première rue à droite, s'il vous plaît. — Take the first street on the right, please.

An imperative has no subject pronoun. Keeping vous turns the instruction into a description of what the listener is doing.

Incorrect: Donne-me le livre. — Give me the book.

Correct: Donne-moi le livre. — Give me the book.

After an affirmative imperative, me and te are replaced by the stressed forms moi and toi. The weak forms only survive in front of the verb, which happens in the negative.

Incorrect: Ne lève-toi pas. — Don't get up.

Correct: Ne te lève pas. — Don't get up.

Negation puts the pronoun back in front of the verb, and toi reverts to te. The hyphen disappears with it.

Incorrect: Ayez du courage et soyez pas en retard. — Have courage and don't be late.

Correct: Ayez du courage et ne soyez pas en retard. — Have courage and don't be late.

Dropping ne is acceptable in casual speech but not in writing, and it is especially conspicuous in the imperative, where the verb already carries a lot of weight.

Imperative Forms in Full

Three persons, four tables. Only the tu column of the -er verbs differs from the present tense.

Regular Verbs

The -er verb loses its -s in the tu form; the other two groups keep everything.

Pronoun	parler	choisir	attendre
tu	parle	choisis	attends
nous	parlons	choisissons	attendons
vous	parlez	choisissez	attendez

Ouvrir and offrir take -er endings in the present, so their tu imperatives are ouvre and offre with no -s.

Irregular Verbs From the Indicative

These are irregular in the present tense and simply carry that irregularity into the imperative.

Pronoun	aller	faire	dire	prendre
tu	va	fais	dis	prends
nous	allons	faisons	disons	prenons
vous	allez	faites	dites	prenez

Va gains an -s before y: vas-y. That -s exists purely to make the link audible.

The Four Subjunctive Imperatives

Learn these as a block; they are the only genuinely unpredictable imperatives in the language.

Pronoun	être	avoir	savoir	vouloir
tu	sois	aie	sache	veuille
nous	soyons	ayons	sachons	veuillons
vous	soyez	ayez	sachez	veuillez

Veuillez is the standard formula for polite written requests: veuillez patienter, veuillez trouver ci-joint.

Reflexive Verbs, Affirmative and Negative

The reflexive pronoun follows the verb in the affirmative and precedes it in the negative, and te becomes toi only in the affirmative.

Pronoun	se lever (affirmative)	se lever (negative)	s'asseoir (affirmative)
tu	lève-toi	ne te lève pas	assieds-toi
nous	levons-nous	ne nous levons pas	asseyons-nous
vous	levez-vous	ne vous levez pas	asseyez-vous

S'asseoir has a second set of forms built on assois-: assois-toi is common in speech, asseyez-vous in careful French.

Pronoun Order, and the Imperative You Rarely Need

The forms are easy; the word order when two pronouns pile up behind the verb is what takes practice.

Two pronouns in an affirmative command

The direct object comes first and the indirect second, which reverses the order used in statements. Y and en always come last.

Donne-le-moi.: Give it to me.
Montrez-les-lui.: Show them to him.
Rends-le-nous.: Give it back to us.
Parle-lui-en.: Talk to him about it.

Moi and toi become m' and t' before en: donne-m'en un peu, give me some.

Two pronouns in a negative command

Everything returns to the ordinary order of a declarative sentence: indirect before direct, all of it in front of the verb, no hyphens.

Ne me le donne pas.: Don't give it to me.
Ne le leur montrez pas.: Don't show it to them.
Ne t'en occupe pas.: Don't bother with it.
Ne nous en parlez plus.: Don't mention it to us again.

This asymmetry between affirmative and negative commands is unique to the imperative in French.

The past imperative

French has a compound imperative, built with aie or sois plus a participle. It orders someone to have something finished by a deadline, and it is rare enough that recognising it is enough.

Aie terminé avant mon retour.: Have it finished before I get back.
Soyez partis avant huit heures.: Be gone before eight.

In practice speakers prefer a future tense or il faut que: il faut que tu aies terminé avant mon retour.

Imperative Mood FAQs

How many imperative forms does French have?: Three: tu, nous, and vous. There is no il or ils imperative, because you cannot address someone who is not present. Orders about a third party use que plus the subjunctive, as in qu'il vienne.
How do you form the imperative in French?: Use the present-tense form without its subject pronoun. Verbs in -er drop the final -s in the tu form: tu chantes gives chante. Être, avoir, savoir, and vouloir take their imperative from the subjunctive: sois, aie, sache, veuille.
Where do object pronouns go with an imperative?: After the verb, joined by a hyphen, in an affirmative command: dis-le-moi. Before the verb, with no hyphen, in a negative one: ne me le dis pas. The affirmative also swaps me and te for moi and toi.
How do you say let's in French?: Use the nous imperative, which is the present nous form without the pronoun: partons, let's go; mangeons, let's eat; ne restons pas ici, let's not stay here. No extra word corresponding to let's is needed.
Is the French imperative impolite?: Not inherently, but it is direct. In shops and offices French usually softens it with s'il vous plaît, or replaces it with a question or a conditional: pourriez-vous m'aider ? For written instructions the infinitive avoids the issue altogether.