The imperative is used to act on the other person. It is used to give an order, advice, an invitation, a directive or an encouragement. The sentence directly targets the expected action: Close the door, Let’s take the train, Come tonight, Continue. The tone depends on the context. With a friend, it may sound like a suggestion. In a directive or regulation, it becomes more direct. To politely ask, one often chooses another construction, such as tu peux or vous pouvez. When the goal is to command, to propose or to guide, the imperative is the natural form.

We choose the imperative when the sentence gives a clear directive. The subject does not appear, because the focus is on the action itself: Range ta chambre, Écoutez bien, Allons-y. It appears in instructions, recipes, signs, safety instructions and daily orders. It also appears in very common phrases like Regarde, Tiens, Venez voir, S’il te plaît, attends. In conversation, it is often used to initiate an immediate action or to respond quickly to a situation. To express a less direct will, one often prefers Affirmations with je veux que or another descriptive structure.

The imperative uses only three persons: the 2nd person singular, the 1st person plural and the 2nd person plural. We therefore say parle, parlons, parlez; finis, finissons, finissez; prends, prenons, prenez. The first form is addressed to a single person. The second includes the speaker with the group. The third is addressed to several people or marks a more distant/polite tone. The other persons do not exist in the imperative. We do not say je, il, elle, ils in this form. This limitation helps to immediately recognize the directive value of the sentence.

With -er verbs, the base of the imperative is the present tense without the subject. In the tu form, we keep the same form as the present, but without -s: tu parles gives parle, tu regardes gives regarde, tu manges gives mange. In the 1st person plural and the 2nd person plural, we find the present forms: parlons, regardons, mangeons; parlez, regardez, mangez. With mangeons and regardons, the e remains visible in writing, but one mainly hears the liaison with the following word. Some verbs take an s in the tu form when they are followed by en or y: manges-en, vas-y. Outside of these cases, the tu form ends without s.

Second-group verbs follow a regular pattern in the imperative. Their base comes from the present: finis, finissons, finissez; choisis, choisissons, choisissez; réussis, réussissons, réussissez. The tu form keeps the ending -is. The nous form keeps -issons. The vous form keeps -issez. This pattern is easily recognizable because it remains stable from one verb to another. In a classroom directive, one naturally says Choose an answer or Let’s succeed in the exercise together. To compare these forms with the present indicative, the model of Regular verbs helps to see the common base.

Some very common verbs have special imperative forms. Être gives sois, soyons, soyez. Avoir gives aie, ayons, ayez. Savoir gives sache, sachons, sachez. Aller gives va, allons, allez. Faire gives fais, faisons, faites. These forms appear all around daily life: Sois prudent, Ayons patience, Sachez la vérité, Va chercher le courrier, Faites attention. Because they are very frequent, they are learned as whole forms. For other irregular verbs, the imperative forms often follow their present base, and spotting becomes easier with the Irregular verbs.

In the negative imperative, we encase the verb with ne... pas: Ne parle pas, N’allons pas trop vite, Ne faites pas de bruit. The ne comes before the verb and pas after it. When the verb begins with a vowel or a mute h, ne becomes n’: N’attends pas, N’ouvre pas. The imperative also appears in fixed expressions and exclamations. We say Viens ! to call someone, Qu’il vienne ! to express a wish or an indirect order, Qu’ils entrent ! in a formal formula. In these constructions, the directive force remains visible, but the structure changes depending on the type of utterance and the presence or absence of the speaker in the action.