Commands are categorized by formality

It's usually best to categorize commands by the formality you want to use - tú or usted. For our purposes with the majority of the Spanish speakers in our area coming from a Latin American background, we mainly need the tú commands and the usted/ustedes commands. There are forms for vosotros (from Spain) and vos (from various areas in Latin America) but we are not going to focus on those.

Commands are either affirmative or negative

Affirmative commands tell someone TO DO something. Negative commands tell them NOT TO DO something. This distinction is especially important for informal commands.

Commands can be singular or plural

A command is singular if you're talking to one person. It is plural if you're talking to more than one person. Technically, the plural informal commands are the vosotros commands, but given that most speakers in our area do not use this form, we will use ustedes forms for both informal and formal situations.

Commands relate to present subjunctive

We will be working in depth with subjunctive starting around week 12. However, I want to point out the relationship now with commands.

Think about commands for a second. Isn't a command just expressing what you REALLY want someone to do? If I tell my daughter, "Straighten your room!," I want her to clean her room. I like to think of commands as really strong recommendations. Why? Because commands and subjunctive have a LOT in common!

I want my daughter to straighten her room. Yo quiero que mi hija arregle su cuarto. This uses subjunctive with arregle.

Most of the command forms are equivalent to subjunctive forms. 

Here are some websites with explanations and practices for commands.

• The SpinTX Spanish Grammar in Context site has a good page for command forms.
• The Yepes Manual does a good job of showing all the conjugation forms in Lesson 52. El modo imperativo / Commands.
• The ACCESO online text has a page explaining commands which includes a video as well as written explanations.
• StudySpanish.com has a set of explanations in their Grammar section. Click on Unit 8 to see the list for commands.
• The video library here on Sakai has a video explaining commands done by one of our instructors.

You need to be consistent with your command forms - especially if you're planning to become an interpreter.

If you are talking to someone formally, you need to ONLY USE formal commands. If it's an informal situation, stick to informal commands. It is an extremely common mistake to mix them all together! While you'll be understood, it sounds very unprofessional.

If you grew up speaking Spanish, practice slowing down to think about the commands you're using.