An imperative is a command or an order, e.g. "Stop!", "Don't slurp your soup!" An imperative is easily recognized in English and Latin by an exclamation mark being placed after it. It is also often found with a noun in the vocative case, e.g. "Look, o citizens, at the villain before you!", "Don't annoy your sister, David!"

Note that an imperative can be positive or negative. A positive imperative tells someone to do something, e.g. "Be nice to your parents!" A negative imperative tells someone not to do something, e.g. "Don't talk to strangers!"

Imperatives are either singular or plural, depending on whether a single person, or several persons are being addressed. In English, it can be hard to tell whether the imperative is singular or plural, because the two forms are the same - you have to work it out from context. In Latin, it is important to distinguish carefully between singular and plural imperatives; as usual, the endings will tell you which it is, e.g. "Stand still, Mark!" ("Sta, Marce!") is singular, while "Stand still, girls!" ("State, puellae!") is plural.

The formation of the imperative in Latin is entirely regular. Simply find the present stem (infinitive minus -re) and that is the singular imperative. To make the plural imperative, add -te to the singular.

Note: This rule is broken by third and third-io conjugation verbs, where the final 'e' of the singular changes to 'i' before the -te in the plural (see below).

For the purposes of this tutorial, only second person commands are considered, i.e. where a person or persons are being directly told to do something. Latin also has first person imperatives ("Let us all rejoice!"), and third person imperatives ("Let her go first!", "Let them arise and dance!") which are formed using the present subjunctive.

It is interesting to note too that Latin has both future and past imperatives as well as present imperatives, but these are fairly rare. These concepts are quite foreign to English, e.g. "Be going to fight well!" (not now, but at some point in the future). You do not need to know about these imperatives.

The First Conjugation.

The first conjugation is where all the a-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, simply add -te to the singular.

Other verbs conjugated like amo are:

rogo, rogare, rogavi, rogatum	to ask
ambulo, ambulare, ambulavi, ambulatum	to walk
clamo, clamare, clamavi, clamatum	to shout
navigo, navigare, navigavi, navigatum	to sail

Practising the First Conjugation Imperative.

Practise forming a first conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the first conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different first conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

Latin to English			English to Latin

The Second Conjugation.

The second conjugation is where all the long-e-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, simply add -te to the singular.

Other verbs conjugated like moneo are:

video, videre, vidi, visum	to see
habeo, habere, habui, habitum	to have
timeo, timere, timui	to fear
maneo, manere, mansi, mansum	to remain

Practising the Second Conjugation Imperative.

Practise forming a second conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the second conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different second conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

Latin to English			English to Latin

The Third Conjugation.

The third conjugation is where all the short-e-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, change the final 'e' of the singular to 'i' and add -te.

Other verbs conjugated like rego are:

mitto, mittere, misi, missum	to send
dico, dicere, dixi, dictum	to say
duco, ducere, duxi, ductum	to lead
scribo, scribere, scripsi, scriptum	to write

Practising the Third Conjugation Imperative.

Practise forming a third conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the third conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different third conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

Latin to English			English to Latin

The Third-io Conjugation.

The third-io conjugation is is a small sub-branch of the third conjugation. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, change the final 'e' of the singular to 'i' and add -te.

Other verbs conjugated like capio are:

facio, facere, feci, factum	to do, make
cupio, cupere, cupivi, cupitum	to desire
accipio, accipere, accepi, acceptum	to receive, accept
interficio, interficere, interfeci, interfectum	to kill

Practising the Third-io Conjugation Imperative.

Practise forming a third-io conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the third-io conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different third-io conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

Latin to English			English to Latin

The Fourth Conjugation.

The fourth conjugation is where all the i-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, simply add -te to the singular.

Other verbs conjugated like audio are:

custodio, custodire, custodivi, custoditum	to guard
finio, finire, finivi, finitum	to finish
venio, venire, veni, ventum	to come
punio, punire, punivi, punitum	to punish

Practising the Fourth Conjugation Imperative.

Practise forming a fourth conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the fourth conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different fourth conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

Latin to English			English to Latin

Irregular Imperatives.

There are very few irregular imperatives. The most common are: