German has three ways of saying "you", so it has three imperatives. Two of them you already know, because they are forms you have met in the present tense. Only the du form is genuinely new.
The three
| For | How | Example |
|---|---|---|
| du | stem, no ending | Komm! — Come! |
| ihr | present tense ihr form | Kommt! — Come! (to several people) |
| Sie | infinitive + Sie | Kommen Sie! — Come! (polite) |
Komm! — to a friend
Kommt! — to a group of friends
Kommen Sie bitte! — to anybody you would call Sie
The pronoun disappears in the du and ihr forms and stays in the Sie form. That is the quickest way to tell them apart.
The du form
Take the infinitive, cut off -en, and stop.
Stems ending in -t or -d keep an -e so the word is pronounceable — warte, antworte, not wart, antwort.
You will also see the -e on other verbs in writing — Gehe!, Komme! — but it sounds old-fashioned and nobody says it.
The verbs that change their vowel keep the change
If a verb switches e to i or ie in the du form of the present tense, the imperative keeps it.
| Present | Imperative |
|---|---|
| du sprichst | Sprich! |
| du gibst | Gib! |
| du nimmst | Nimm! |
| du isst | Iss! |
| du liest | Lies! |
| du vergisst | Vergiss! |
But the a → ä change is dropped. du fährst becomes Fahr!, not Fähr!. That split catches people who have just learned the vowel changes from German present tense.
sein is the odd one
| For | Form |
|---|---|
| du | Sei ruhig! |
| ihr | Seid ruhig! |
| Sie | Seien Sie ruhig! |
haben behaves normally: Hab keine Angst! — Do not be afraid.
Separable verbs split, as always
The prefix goes to the end of the sentence, exactly as it does in a normal sentence.
Ruf mich morgen an! — Call me tomorrow.
Steh bitte auf! — Please get up.
That is the same rule as in German separable verbs; the imperative does not change it.
Making it sound less blunt
A bare imperative is direct in German the way it is in English. Three small words soften it, and Germans use them constantly.
| Word | Effect |
|---|---|
| bitte | please |
| mal | takes the edge off — "just", "for a moment" |
| doch | mild encouragement — "go on" |
Komm mal her. — Come here a moment.
Setz dich doch! — Do sit down.
Bitte warte kurz. — Please wait a moment.
mal and doch have no clean English translation and are worth copying by ear rather than analysing.
What you will hear instead
Germans often avoid the imperative entirely and ask a question or use a modal, which is softer.
Kannst du mir helfen? — Can you help me?
Könnten Sie bitte warten? — Could you please wait?
The polite forms come from German Konjunktiv II, and in a shop or an office they are what you will actually hear.
What to actually memorise
The du form is the stem alone, e → i survives and a → ä does not, and sei is irregular. Everything else you already know from the present tense.
Rules stick faster once you have met the words. Every example above links to its own page.
Practise in the trainer