An explanation of Formal Commands in Spanish

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An explanation of Formal Commands in Spanish
Hazlo!
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Commands in English

• are pretty easy. You just use a base verb form
  (without a subject, since its always you) to
  tell people what they should do
• Stand up!
• Sit down!
• Do your homework!
• Take out the garbage!
• Be quiet!

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Commands in Spanish

• are little more complicated because we have so
  many ways of saying you
• Tú informal, singular
• Vosotros informal, plural
• Ud. formal, singular
• Uds. formal, plural
• However, we will concentrate on the formal
  commands only.

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Hable despacio, por favor.
-AR verbs

• The speaker is talking to one person.
• Can you figure out how we got the form hable?
• Take the yo form of the present HABLO
• Drop the o HABL-
• Hablar is an AR verb, so add E to form the
  command HABLE

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Drop Swap!
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Repita, por favor.
-ER/-IR Verbs

• The speaker is talking to one person.
• Can you figure out how we got the form repita?
• Take the yo form of the present REPITO
• Drop the o REPIT-
• Repetir is an IR verb, so add A to form the
  command REPITA

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Drop Swap!
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Opposite vowels

• Think of the verb adding the
• opposite vowel
• AR verbs add an E.
• ER IR verbs add an A.

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Lets try a couple!

• Comer ______ Ud.!
• Escribir _____ Ud.!
• Tomar _____ Ud.!
• Beber ______ Ud.!

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More than one person? ?Uds

• Coman Uds. la paella.
• Right!
• Just add an N to the command form when you
  are talking to more than one person.

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Lets try a few more!

• Comer ______ Uds.!
• Escribir _____ Uds.!
• Tomar _____ Uds.!

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• Some irregularsQué pasa?
• Haga la tarea. hacerto do
• Hacer gt yo hago gt -o -a
• Tenga paciencia. tenerto have
• Tener gt yo tengo gt -o -a
• Salga ahora. salirto leave
• Salir gt yo salgo gt - o -a
• Vuelva a casa.volverto return
• Volver gt yo vuelvo gt -o -a
• Piense bien.pensarto think
• Pensar gt yo pienso gt -o -e
• These verbs follow the same formula start with
  the yo form, drop the o, and add the opposite
  vowel.

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En la cocina, use the FORMAL SINGULAR COMMAND
FORMS ? Usted
Cocinar- to cook, Cocine
Medir-to measure, Mida Agregar-to add, Agregue
Freír-to fry, Fría Hervir-to boil, Hierva
Romper-to break, Rompa Hornear-to
bake, Hornee Batir- to beat, Bata Combinar-to
combine/to blend, Combine Mezclar-to mix,
Mezcle Picar-to chop, Pique Cortar-to cut,
Corte Cubrir-to cover, Cubra
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Ahora, traduzcan usando los mandatos
formales. 1.Blend a cup of milk!
__________________________ 2. Beat two eggs!
__________________________ 3. Boil three cups of
water! __________________________ 4. Cut the
chicken! __________________________ 5. Bake
the cake! __________________________