French grammar · Beginner
The Tu Imperative in French: Forms, the Missing -s, and Pronoun Order
The tu imperative is how you tell one person you know well to do something. You take the present-tense tu form and delete the pronoun, and for -er verbs you also delete the final -s: tu parles becomes parle. A handful of verbs (être, avoir, savoir, vouloir) build the form from the subjunctive instead.
Écoute-moi une seconde.
Listen to me for a second.
What it is
A command in French has no subject pronoun, because the ending already tells you who is being addressed. The tu imperative is therefore just the tu form of the present tense standing on its own. The one wrinkle is that -er verbs lose their final -s, which is why parle looks shorter than tu parles.
Tu regardes → Regarde. Tu finis → Finis. Tu attends → Attends. — You look → Look. You finish → Finish. You wait → Wait.
How to spot it
Look at the infinitive ending. If it ends in -er (or is ouvrir, offrir, souffrir, cueillir, which behave like -er verbs), the imperative has no -s. Everything else keeps the -s it has in the present.
- Ferme la porte. — Close the door. (-er verb, no -s)
- Choisis une couleur. — Pick a colour. (-ir verb, keeps the -s)
- Réponds à ma question. — Answer my question. (-re verb, keeps the -s)
- Ouvre la fenêtre. — Open the window. (ouvrir behaves like an -er verb)
Aller is the odd one out among common irregulars: va, with no -s, because its tu form patterns with the -er verbs.
Tu Imperative Quick Reference
Tu imperative forms of the verbs you will need first
| Verb | Present tu form | Tu imperative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| parler | tu parles | parle | speak |
| finir | tu finis | finis | finish |
| attendre | tu attends | attends | wait |
| aller | tu vas | va | go |
| faire | tu fais | fais | do, make |
| être | tu es | sois | be |
| avoir | tu as | aie | have |
| savoir | tu sais | sache | know |
Common Tu Imperative Examples in French
The tu imperative as it actually turns up in conversation:
Everyday Instructions
- Passe-moi le sel.
- Pass me the salt.
- Appelle-moi ce soir.
- Call me tonight.
- Attends deux minutes.
- Wait two minutes.
- Prends ton manteau.
- Take your coat.
Between friends and inside a family this is the default way to ask for something; adding s'il te plaît is what softens it.
Warnings and Reminders
- Fais attention à la marche.
- Watch out for the step.
- N'oublie pas tes clés.
- Don't forget your keys.
- Ne touche pas à ça.
- Don't touch that.
- Réfléchis avant de répondre.
- Think before you answer.
Negative commands wrap ne … pas around the verb exactly as they would around a normal present tense.
Encouragement
- Sois patient, ça va marcher.
- Be patient, it's going to work.
- Aie confiance en toi.
- Have confidence in yourself.
- Vas-y, tu peux le faire.
- Go on, you can do it.
- N'aie pas peur.
- Don't be afraid.
Sois and aie come from the subjunctive, which is why they look nothing like tu es and tu as.
With a Reflexive Verb
- Assieds-toi.
- Sit down.
- Dépêche-toi, on est en retard.
- Hurry up, we're late.
- Ne t'inquiète pas.
- Don't worry.
- Repose-toi un peu.
- Rest a little.
The reflexive pronoun te becomes toi and moves behind the verb, but only in the affirmative.
How the Tu Imperative Is Built
Three rules cover almost every verb, and the exceptions form a list short enough to memorise in an afternoon.
Drop the Pronoun
French commands are made by removing the subject, not by adding anything. Tu écoutes is a statement; take tu away and you have an order. Nothing else about the verb changes for -ir and -re verbs.
Tu descends → Descends.
You're coming down → Come down.
No subject means an order.
-er Verbs Lose the Final -s
For verbs whose infinitive ends in -er, the written imperative drops the -s of the tu form. The -s was silent anyway, so this is a spelling rule rather than a pronunciation one, but getting it wrong is instantly visible in writing.
Regarde ce que tu as fait.
Look at what you've done.
parles → parle.
Four Verbs Borrow the Subjunctive
Être, avoir, savoir, and vouloir take their imperative from the present subjunctive: sois, aie, sache, veuille. This is why sois sage has no relation to tu es, and it is the only irregularity worth learning as a list.
Sache que je ne suis pas d'accord.
Be aware that I don't agree.
être, avoir, savoir, vouloir → subjunctive.
Object Pronouns Move Behind the Verb
In an affirmative command the object pronoun follows the verb and is joined to it with a hyphen. Me and te become the stressed forms moi and toi in that position, so tu me téléphones becomes téléphone-moi.
Donne-moi la main.
Give me your hand.
Verb-hyphen-pronoun, me → moi.
The Negative Restores Normal Word Order
As soon as ne … pas appears, the pronoun goes back in front of the verb and loses its hyphen. Donne-le-moi becomes ne me le donne pas, which looks like an ordinary negative sentence with the subject deleted.
Ne me réponds pas comme ça.
Don't answer me like that.
Negative order is the ordinary order.
Common Mistakes with Tu Imperative
Incorrect: Écoutes-moi. — Listen to me.
Correct: Écoute-moi. — Listen to me.
The -er imperative drops the -s of the tu form. Because the -s is silent, learners who work from what they hear tend to keep it in writing.
Incorrect: Tu ferme la porte. — Close the door.
Correct: Ferme la porte. — Close the door.
An imperative has no subject pronoun. Leaving tu in front turns the command back into a statement, and with the -s missing it becomes ungrammatical as well.
Incorrect: Ne donne-le-moi pas. — Don't give it to me.
Correct: Ne me le donne pas. — Don't give it to me.
Hyphenated pronouns after the verb only happen in affirmative commands. Add a negation and the pronouns go back in front, in their usual order.
Incorrect: Es gentil avec ta sœur. — Be nice to your sister.
Correct: Sois gentil avec ta sœur. — Be nice to your sister.
Être does not use its present-tense tu form as an imperative. It borrows the subjunctive, giving sois, soyons, soyez.
The Three Imperative Persons Side by Side
French has only three imperative forms: tu for one familiar person, nous for a suggestion including yourself, and vous for a group or a person you address formally. Seeing them together makes the tu form easier to place.
Regular Verbs
The nous and vous forms are identical to the present tense. Only the tu form of -er verbs differs, by that missing -s.
| Pronoun | parler (-er) | finir (-ir) | attendre (-re) | ouvrir |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tu | parle | finis | attends | ouvre |
| nous | parlons | finissons | attendons | ouvrons |
| vous | parlez | finissez | attendez | ouvrez |
Ouvrir, offrir, souffrir, and cueillir take -er endings in the present, so their tu imperative has no -s either.
The Subjunctive Four
Être, avoir, savoir, and vouloir build all three imperative forms on their subjunctive stem.
| Pronoun | être | avoir | savoir | vouloir |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tu | sois | aie | sache | veuille |
| nous | soyons | ayons | sachons | veuillons |
| vous | soyez | ayez | sachez | veuillez |
Veuillez is by far the most frequent of these: veuillez patienter, please hold, is standard on recorded messages.
Common Irregular Verbs
These are irregular in the present tense, so their imperative inherits that irregularity, but no extra rule applies.
| Pronoun | aller | faire | dire | venir |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tu | va | fais | dis | viens |
| nous | allons | faisons | disons | venons |
| vous | allez | faites | dites | venez |
Va has no -s because tu vas patterns with the -er verbs, even though aller is otherwise irregular.
Pronouns, Hyphens, and the -s That Comes Back
Most of the difficulty with the tu imperative is not the verb form but what happens when you attach a pronoun to it.
The -s reappears before y and en
An -er imperative that loses its -s gets it back when y or en follows, purely so the two words can be linked in speech.
- Vas-y doucement.
- Take it easy.
- Manges-en un peu.
- Eat some of it.
- Parles-en à ton frère.
- Talk to your brother about it.
- Penses-y avant de décider.
- Think about it before deciding.
Without a following y or en the -s stays away: va au marché, mange ta soupe, pense à moi.
Two pronouns at once
In an affirmative command the direct object comes first and the indirect object second, which is the reverse of the order in a statement.
- Donne-le-moi.
- Give it to me.
- Rends-les-lui.
- Give them back to him.
- Ne me le donne pas.
- Don't give it to me.
- Ne le lui rends pas.
- Don't give it back to him.
The reversal only happens in the affirmative. The negative versions keep the ordinary indirect-then-direct order.
Softening a command
A bare imperative can sound curt, so French often wraps it in a formula or replaces it with a question.
- Ferme la porte, s'il te plaît.
- Close the door, please.
- Tu peux m'aider ?
- Can you help me?
- Tu me passes le sel ?
- Will you pass me the salt?
A present-tense question with rising intonation is the most common polite alternative to an imperative among friends.
Tu Imperative FAQs
- How do you form the tu imperative in French?
- Take the present-tense tu form and delete the pronoun. For verbs in -er you also delete the final -s: tu chantes gives chante. Verbs in -ir and -re keep everything, so tu sors gives sors and tu prends gives prends.
- Why does the tu imperative have no -s for -er verbs?
- It comes from the Latin form, which had no -s to begin with; the -s in tu parles was added later by analogy with other verbs. Since the -s is silent, nothing is lost in speech, but in writing parle and va are the correct forms and parles and vas are not.
- When do you say vas-y instead of va?
- The -s comes back whenever y or en is attached, so that the two words link smoothly. You say va au cinéma with no -s but vas-y with one, and mange ta soupe but manges-en.
- Which French verbs have an irregular tu imperative?
- Only four are genuinely irregular, and they all borrow the subjunctive: être gives sois, avoir gives aie, savoir gives sache, and vouloir gives veuille. Aller looks irregular but simply follows the -er pattern, giving va.
- Is the tu imperative rude?
- Not in itself, but it is direct. Between friends, ferme la porte is perfectly normal; with a stranger you would use vous and usually add a softener, as in pouvez-vous fermer la porte, s'il vous plaît. Adding s'il te plaît is enough to make a tu command polite.