The present imperative or
présent de l'impératif in french, is a
simple tense. This tense is not formed with an auxiliary.
Recall two unusual features of the imperative: it exists only in three persons (second singular, first plural and second plural) and its subject pronoun is always omitted.
Most often, the present imperative is copied from the indicative present (this is always true for verbs from the first two groups). Thus when the present indicative has two alternate forms, so does the present imperative:
- Asseoir: assieds (assois), asseyons (assoyons), asseyez (assoyez)
- Payer: paie (paye), payons, payez
The imperatives of
avoir and
être are based on the present subjunctive, and those of
savoir and
vouloir are irregular:
- Aie, ayons, ayez
- Sois, soyons, soyez
- Sache, sachons, sachez
- Veuille, veuillons, veuillez
Note that the singular of verbs ending in
-e or in
-a in the imperative has no final
-s. This applies to all verbs from the first group and to some from the third (
assaillir, couvrir, cueillir, défaillir, offrir, ouvrir, souffrir, tressaillir and verbs derived from them, as well as the verbs
aller, avoir, savoir, vouloir):
Parle, cueille, va, aie, sache, veuille, finis, sors...
Present imperative endings
Most often the present imperative endings correspond to the present indicative endings.
Here are the complete endings in simple future indicative for the three groups :
