In Brazilian Portuguese, the imperative is the form of a verb that is used to give orders, make requests, provide suggestions, or to give advice.
Abram a porta!
Open the door!
Feche a porta. Está frio.
Close the door. It is cold.
Here are some quick facts about the Brazilian Portuguese imperative:
Because we use this verb form only when we are talking to the person or people who are supposed to perform an action, the imperative in Brazilian Portuguese only has three forms: tu/você (you, sg.), nós(we), and vocês(you, pl.).
Unlike other moods, the imperative only has one tense: the present.
In Brazilian Portuguese, the imperative has an affirmative (do it!) and a negative form (don’t do it!). This influences the placement of object and reflexive pronouns, and some verbs have some spelling changes.
Are you curious to know more about this mood? So, keep on reading this post.
The imperative is the form of a verb you use to give an order or command, but it can also be used in “softer” contexts, such as to give advice, to make a request, or to provide a suggestion.
To express orders, as in:
Façam silêncio!
Be quiet!
lit. Make silence!
To make a request, as in:
Abra a janela por favor.
Open the window please.
To give suggestions or advice:
Tome um remédio para melhorar.
Take medicine to get better.
Below, we will first talk about the forms of the imperative, and after about its everyday use. Let’s start?
In Brazilian Portuguese, the verb stem of the imperative is formed from the first-person eu(I) form of the simple present.
Every imperative verb comes in three forms: a tu/você(you, sing.) form, a vocês(you, pl.) form, and a nós(we) form. What’s the difference?
The imperative mood is always used when you expect a person or group that you are directly addressing to perform an action. In Brazilian Portuguese, the form of the verb reflects whether you are addressing:
a single person → tu/você(you, sg.)
Think: “Close the door, John!”
(We’ll talk about the distinction between the two more below!)
more than one person → vocês(you, pl.)
Think: “Come in, everyone!”
a group that includes you, the speaker → nós(we)
Think “Let’s go!”
Now let’s look more closely at how to create these different imperative forms.
To form the imperative of regular verbs, first create the first person singular form of the verb in the simple present, then follow the rules below to create the imperative :
-ar verbs → replace the final -o with -e
falar → eu falo → fale
to speak → I speak → speak!
-er and -ir verbs → replace the final -o with -a
comer → eu como → coma
to eat → I eat → eat!
abrir → eu abro → abra
to open → I open → open!
This stem is the você(you sg.) form of the imperative. You can form the nós(we) and vocês(you, pl.) forms just by adding the appropriate personal endings to the stem. Here is a chart:
Subject pronouns | falar | comer | abrir |
|---|---|---|---|
tu(you) | fala | come | abre |
você(you, sing.) | fale | coma | abra |
nós(we) | falemos | comamos | abramos |
vocês(you, pl.) | falem | comam | abram |
The forms of Brazilian Portuguese imperative verbs are very similar to the present subjunctive forms. The only exception is the tu(you), which has different endings for the imperative affirmative and the present subjunctive:
abrir(to open):
tu abras(you open) → present subjunctive
tu abre(open!) → imperative
To form the imperative of irregular verbs, you will still start by forming the eu(I) form of the simple present. You’ll make the same changes to the eu form that you did above:
dizer → eu digo → diga
to say → I say → say!
vestir → eu visto → vista
to dress → I dress → dress!
The verb stems diga and vista become the basis for the formation of the imperative.
Subject pronouns | dizer | vestir |
|---|---|---|
tu(you) | dize | veste |
você(you, sing.) | diga | vesta |
nós(we) | digamos | vistamos |
vocês(you, pl.) | digam | vistam |
The verbs dar(to give), ser(to be), estar(to be), ir(to go), querer(to want), and saber(to know) don’t follow the rule above applied for the irregular verbs. Instead, they have their own irregular imperative forms.
dar(to give) | ser(to be) | estar(to be) | ir(to go) | querer(to want) | saber(to know) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
tu | dá | sê | está | vai | quer | sabe |
você | dê | seja | esteja | vá | queira | saiba |
nós | demos | sejamos | estejamos | vamos | queiramos | saibamos |
vocês | deem | sejam | estejam | vão | queiram | saibam |
To make a negative imperative, you will usually place the word não(not) before the verb in the imperative.
However, unlike the affirmative tu(you) imperative, which is formed using a different stem, the negative tu imperative is formed by combining não with a form that is created by adding the appropriate personal endings for tu to the same stem as the other imperatives:
falar → falo → (você) fale → (tu) não fales
to speak → I speak → speak! → don’t speak!
Subject pronouns | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
tu(you) | fala | não fales |
você(you, sg.) | fale | não fale |
nós(we) | falemos | não falemos |
vocês(you, pl.) | falem | não falem |
This pattern is followed by all imperative verbs: regular and irregular.
Verbs ending with -car, -çar, -cer, -gar, and -ger have a spelling change in the imperative form that helps preserve the original pronunciation of the c, ç, or g in the stem.
This spelling change does not affect the affirmative tu(you) imperative, because the vowel in the ending of this form is different.
-car → -que | -çar → -ce | -gar → -gue | -ger → -ja | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ficar | começar | alugar | proteger | |
tu | fica | começa | aluga | protege |
você | fique | comece | alugue | proteja |
nós | fiquemos | comecemos | aluguemos | protejamos |
vocês | fiquem | comecem | aluguem | protejam |
In the affirmative imperative, both and are placed after the verb and linked with a hyphen.
Termine-o ainda esta semana.
Finish it this week.
In the negative imperative, however, the não(not) attracts the object/reflexive pronoun and the pronoun is placed between não and the verb instead. No hyphen is used here.
Não a façamos esperar.
Let's not make her wait.
When context makes the object clear, object pronouns can be left out.
Devo ligar o computador?
Should I turn on the computer?
Ligue, sim.
Turn (it) on, yes.
Check out our posts on Brazilian Portuguese object pronouns and reflexive pronouns to learn more!
We’ve already mentioned that the imperative is used to give orders, requests, suggestions, or advice. In this section, though, we’ll give you some more hints on how to choose between different ways of expressing commands. Let’s have a look!
The tu imperative and the você imperative are both used to address a single person.
Venha aqui. = Vem aqui.
Come here.
Vá com Deus. = Vai com Deus.
Farewell.
lit. Go with God.
So what is the difference?
In European Portuguese, there are two ways to say “you (sg.)”: tu (informal) and você (formal), so the form will depend on formality.
In everyday language, Brazilians will mostly use the tu form of the imperative. So, a Brazilian Portuguese speaker would prefer to say guarda(save, keep) and not guarde. The você form sounds very formal in Brazil.
Generally, Brazilians use você for both formal and informal situations with all the verb tenses — but the imperative is an exception!
In everyday written and spoken language, we often use vamos(we go) + main verb instead of the nós(we) form of the imperative. The nós imperative is mostly used in more formal contexts.
Saiamos agora para conseguir pegar o trem.
Let’s get out now to be able to catch the train.
Vamos sair agora para conseguir pegar o trem.
Let’s get out now to be able to catch the train.
You can use either the imperative or the future subjunctive to suggest that a future action will lead to some result. For example:
Se fizer esse exercício físico, se sentirá uma nova pessoa.
If you do this physical exercise, you will feel like a new person.
Faça esse exercício físico e se sentirá uma nova pessoa.
Do this physical exercise and you will feel like a new person.
There are some tenses and expressions that can be used to replace the imperative in Brazilian Portuguese. The expressions below can still be used to give an order, make a request, or provide advice or a suggestion. Let’s see them below:
or :
Silêncio! ⇛ Façam silêncio!
Silence! ⇛ Make silence!
Simple present:
Você fecha essa janela. ⇛ Feche essa janela.
You close this window. ⇛ Close this window.
Using the simple present makes the order less direct, and therefore more polite than the imperative.
Simple future or the future with ir:
Vocês vão me ligar mais tarde, tá certo! ⇛ Liguem-me mais tarde, tá certo!
You will call me later, ok! ⇛ Call me later, ok!
Se você prestasse mais atenção! ⇛ Preste mais atenção!
If you paid more attention! ⇛ Pay more attention!
Não conversar durante o exame! ⇛ Não conversem durante o exame!
Do not talk during the exam!
Terminando! ⇛ Terminem!
Ending! ⇛ Finish!
Depending on the context and tone, the imperative can sometimes sound very impolite and like a rude way to address somebody; however, there are some words you can use to attenuate an order or request, such as por favor and por gentileza(please).
Por favor, feche a porta!
Please, close the door!
In this post, we talked about the form and use of the imperative.
The basic stem is formed by starting with the eu(I) form and making the following changes:
in -ar verbs, the -o is replaced by -e, as in: falar → eu falo → fale
in -er and -ir verbs, the -o is replaced by -e, as in: correr → eu corro → corra
Most irregular verbs follow the same pattern, as in:dizer → eu digo → diga
The affirmative tu(you, sg.) imperative has its own stem:
-ar → -a
-er/-ir → -e
The negative imperative is formed by taking the basic stem and adding não(not) before the verb. Here, the tu form does use the same stem as the others.
Object and reflexive pronouns must be put after the verb by a hyphen, and in negative forms it must be put after the não and before the verb, as in:
Abra-a!
Open it!
Não a abra!
Don't open it!
We also talked about the everyday use of the imperative.
Although Brazilians generally use the personal pronoun você(you), they tend to use the imperative for tu(you), which sounds less formal.
Brazilians often use vamos + verb instead of the nós(we) imperative.
The imperative can be used instead of the future subjunctive to give suggestions.
Now, practice what you’ve learned about the imperative with this activity!
