Introduction

The imperative is a mood. It is used to give orders – to do or not to do something. It is also used to make a suggestion or express a wish. It is therefore generally used in spoken French in the presence of the interlocutor(s) to whom the imperative is directly addressed, i.e. 2nd persons singular and plural (tu/vous) and 1st person plural (nous). However, the imperative can also appear in written messages or quotations.

Ex: ‘La dictature, c'est ferme ta gueule, la démocratie, c'est cause toujours.’

‘Dictatorship = shut your mouth; democracy = talk all you like.’

The imperative has two ‘tenses’: the present and the past, and two ‘forms’: simple and compound. Both relate to the present of its utterance and the future of its realization. The tenses are opposed aspectually, i.e. the present is non-accomplished and the past is accomplished. The present imperative is by far the more commonly used.

The imperative has only three persons (instead of six for the other moods): 2nd person singular (tu), 2nd person plural (vous, including ‘polite’ vous) and 1st person plural (nous). Note that the subjunctive can be used as a substitute for the imperative for the 3rd person (see 4.4 below and chapter 12 Subjunctive, section 4.5).

In written French, imperative sentences normally end with an exclamation mark, a feature shared with exclamative sentences.

Present imperative

Formation

The forms of the imperative are based on those of the present indicative.