The imperative mood in Italian is mainly used to

1. give an order or express a command
2. give an advice
3. to scold, to reprimand harshly
4. to urge someone to do something
5. to pray or implore someone

Examples:

In the Italian language, the imperative mood can be either direct or indirect.

The direct imperative in Italian

Here is a simple table to show you how to form the direct imperative:

As you can see from the table, the direct imperative only has two persons: tu and voi. There is also only one tense, the present tense.Moreover, it is very simple, as it is almost exactly the same as the present tense of the indicative. The only difference is with the verbs ending in -are: remember that the last letter is not an “i”, but an “a”.

The negative of the direct imperative in Italian is also quite simple:

In order to form the negative of the direct imperative, just and “non” before the verb, and use the infinitive form for the singular tu, and the standard form for the plural voi.

A few verbs have an irregular form in the imperative mood:

The second person singular of the verb “dire” (to say) is dì’, with an apostrophe.

Other verbs have two different forms for the second person singular of the imperative. You can choose to use whatever you prefer.

The indirect imperative in Italian

The indirect imperative is the form to use in formal contexts, when we are speaking to people that we don’t know very well or to whom we want to show our respect by using a polite language. For this reason, the indirect imperative is also colled formal imperative.

As you may know, in Italian we use the third person feminine singular when talking to somebody in a formal context. The indirect imperative is the same as the present subjunctive of the verb we want to use:

As for the plural form, it is possible to use the third person plural (loro) of the subjunctive:

Nowadays, this form is used only in extremely formal contexts. We normally use the standard second person plural form of the direct imperative.

Ordering something to…yourself

As we have mentioned so far, the imperative only has two persons: the second person singular “tu” and the second person plural “voi”. Sometimes however you may need to exhort, scold, implore, give an order to…yourself. However, the first person singular of the imperative does not exist. In this case, you can either use the second person singular…

• rilassati!

…or the first person plural (this can also be used as a form of “imperative” directed to the group of people that you belong to):

• rilassiamoci!

The imperative: how not to sound too rude

Exactly because the imperative is used to express orders or commands, we suggest - in order not to sound rude - to use the imperative together with some gentle formulas, such as:

all of which could be translated into English as “please”.

You will therefore say:

• Chiudi la finestra, per favore
• Close the window, please

And not (unless you want to sound rude):

• Chiudi la finestra!

For more articles and activities about the imperative mood in Italian, click on the following links:

• Exercises on the use of the imperative
• The Pharmacy
• The tiramisù
• Asking for directions
• Song: Crudele