German Imperative: Forms, Rules and Examples

The German imperative chart

The table gives the German imperative form of eight verbs for du, ihr, Sie and wir: machen, gehen, warten, geben, fahren, anrufen, sich setzen and sein. Du is the “you” for one friend (mach), ihr is “you all” for a group of friends (macht), and Sie is the formal “you” for one person or more (machen Sie). Wir means “let's,” as in gehen wir, “let's go.”

An (e) in the table means the -e is optional, so geh(e) is geh or gehe. Warten keeps its -e (warte), geben changes its vowel (gib), anrufen puts its prefix at the end (ruf(e) an) and sein has forms of its own (sei, seid, seien Sie, seien wir).

How each form is made

Each form of the imperative in German comes from the present tense. For du, take the du present and drop du and the -st ending: du machst gives mach(e). For ihr, drop ihr, so ihr macht gives macht. For Sie, put Sie after the infinitive, the dictionary form of the verb: Sie machen gives machen Sie, and wir works the same way, as in machen wir.

Sein is the exception: du bist gives sei, ihr seid gives seid, Sie sind gives seien Sie and wir sind gives seien wir. The table sets each present form beside its command.

Verbs that change e to i or ie

Of the verbs in the quiz, 23 change e to i or ie in the du present, counting compounds such as mitnehmen. Their du command keeps the new vowel, so du gibst gives gib and du liest gives lies. The ihr command keeps the e, as in gebt and lest. These commands never take an -e, which makes it gib, never gibe.

For sehen the command is sieh, as in Sieh mich an! Duden, the German dictionary, keeps siehe for cross-references, as in siehe oben (see above), so Siehe mich an! is marked “almost” in the quiz. Werden is the exception to the rule, with du wirst but werd(e), not wird. The German strong, weak and mixed verbs guide explains the vowel changes in the present tense.

Verbs that drop the umlaut

Of the verbs in the quiz, 15 change a to ä or au to äu in the du present, counting compounds such as weglaufen. Their du command drops the umlaut, the dots over the vowel, so du fährst gives fahr(e) and du läufst gives lauf(e). The table lists seven such verbs, from fahren to halten.

The command is fahr, not fähr, and Fähr langsamer! is marked “almost” in the quiz, with the note “Fahren drops the umlaut in the command (du fährst, but fahr): Fahr langsamer!”

When the du command needs -e

Most du commands can end with or without -e: geh or gehe, finde or find, halte or halt. Some need it. A regular verb whose stem, the verb without -en, ends in -t or -d keeps the -e (warten → warte, reden → rede, arbeiten → arbeite, antworten → antworte). The same goes for a verb whose stem ends in a consonant plus m or n (öffnen → öffne, zeichnen → zeichne) or in -ig (entschuldigen → entschuldige).

Verbs in -eln drop the e of -el and add -e, so lächeln gives lächle (also lächele). Verbs in -ern add -e, so ändern gives ändere (also ändre). Verbs that change e to i or ie never take it, as in gib.

After -t the short form, wart, is heard in speech, but written German keeps the -e. Duden's grammar calls the -e form better, or the only possible one, for these verbs, and Wart! is marked “almost” in the quiz.

Separable verbs

A separable verb, such as anrufen, splits in a command, and its prefix goes to the end: Ruf(e) mich an! for du and Rufen Sie mich an! for Sie. Because the prefix goes to the end, an object comes before it, as in Mach(e) die Tür zu! and Schalten Sie das Licht aus! The table gives six verbs, from anrufen to mitnehmen, for du and Sie.

The other rules still apply: schalte keeps its -e after -t, and nimm changes its vowel, as in Nimm die Jacke mit!

Reflexive verbs and sich

A reflexive verb, such as sich setzen, keeps a sich that changes with the person. It comes right after the verb, or after Sie or wir: setz(e) dich, setzt euch, setzen Sie sich and setzen wir uns.

With an object, du takes dir instead of dich, as in wasch(e) dir die Hände. Euch, sich and uns stay the same: wascht euch die Hände, waschen Sie sich die Hände and waschen wir uns die Hände. The table shows both patterns for each person.

sein, haben, werden and tun

These four verbs have a set of their own in the quiz. Sein has forms of its own: sei, seid, seien Sie and seien wir. Haben gives hab(e), habt, haben Sie and haben wir.

Werden doesn't keep the i of du wirst, so its du command is werd(e), not wird, and the other forms are werdet, werden Sie and werden wir. Tun gives tu(e), tut, tun Sie and tun wir, with tun Sie, not tuen Sie.

Two objects

When a command has two objects, a person and a thing, a pronoun comes before a noun: Gib mir das Buch! and Zeig(e) ihm den Weg! Two pronouns go the other way around, with the accusative, the thing (es), before the dative, the person (mir), as in Gib es mir! and Zeig(e) ihn mir! For Sie, both pronouns come after Sie, as in Geben Sie es mir!

nicht and kein

Nicht comes after the object (Mach(e) das nicht! Vergiss den Schlüssel nicht! Ruf(e) mich nicht an!) and before a prefix at the end (Geh(e) nicht weg! Reg(e) dich nicht auf!). It also comes before an adjective, a describing word such as traurig (Sei nicht traurig!), and before a phrase such as zu spät (Komm(e) nicht zu spät!).

A noun with no word for “the” or “a” in front, or with ein, takes kein instead of nicht: Hab(e) keine Angst! Mach(e) keinen Fehler! Mach(e) dir keine Sorgen!

Polite commands and bitte

The Sie form is the polite one, for one person or more: Setzen Sie sich bitte! Bitte can go at the start, after the verb or after Sie, as in Bitte setz dich! and Setz dich bitte!

A written command usually ends with an exclamation mark, but a polite request may end with a period. The quiz ignores bitte, so Komm bitte! counts as Komm!

Verbs with no imperative

The six modal verbs, können, müssen, dürfen, sollen, wollen and mögen, have no imperative. They say what someone can, must, may, should, wants to or likes to do, which isn't something you can tell a person to do. Our German verb conjugation tables leave their imperative empty, and the quiz leaves them out.

Practice the German imperative

The German imperative quiz drills these forms one at a time. You choose the persons, affirmative or negative, what comes with the verb and the verb sets, and after every answer a one-line reason gives the rule. For a class, the German imperative worksheets print four exercises, from writing the command to a fill-in chart, with an answer key that starts on a new page. To learn the German imperative rules step by step, start with du and regular verbs on their own, then add one more word, and then two objects. Every form comes from the German verb conjugation tables, which cover 600 verbs. If you learn Spanish, Italian or French too, the Spanish commands chart, the Italian imperative guide and the French imperative guide each set out the forms and rules for commands in that language.

Frequently asked questions

Licenses and credits

Conjugation tables come from English Wiktionary through kaikki.org (CC BY-SA 4.0). Verbs are ranked by Hermit Dave's FrequencyWords list, built from OpenSubtitles 2018 (CC BY-SA 4.0).