Commands in Spanish: The Formal Imperative

Let's continue learning the Spanish imperative. On a previous lesson we explored the use of the informal imperative used with tú (singular "you"), vosotros (plural “you” in Spain) and ustedes (plural “you” in the Americas). Now let's see how to give orders with the formal usted (singular "you"), and ustedes (plural “you” in Spain and in the Americas).

Actually, the formal commands are very easy in Spanish, we just need to use the present subjunctive.

For usted (formal you singular):

Vaya y coma todo el plancton que quiera.

Go and eat all the plankton that you want.

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For ustedes (formal you plural):
Vayan y coman todo el plancton que quieran.
Go and eat all the plankton that you want.

Actually, this is a great example that gives us the opportunity to introduce an important irregular verb, ir (to go) and it's formal imperative vaya (go).Let's see some variations of the example using the informal imperative. Pay attention to the verb ir (to go):

For tú (you singular informal):
Ve y come todo el plancton que quieras.
Go and eat all the plankton that you want.

For vosotros (you plural informal in Spain):
Id y comed todo el plancton que queráis.
Go and eat all the plankton that you want.

For ustedes (you plural informal in the Americas*):
Vayan y coman todo el plancton que quieran.
Go and eat all the plankton that you want.

But let's continue with another regular verb and the formal imperative:

Sí, no espere que me ría. -No, ni por un momento, Madre.

Yes, don't expect me to laugh. -No, not even for a moment, Mother.

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This is also another great example because it's showing us how to use the formal imperative with negation, which, good news, also uses the present subjunctive, so you only need to add the word "no," that's it! Here are examples using the regular verbs amar (to love), temer (to fear), partir (to leave) as models:

Ame (usted) a su hermano - No (ame) usted a su hermano | Love your brother - Don't love your brother
Tema (usted) a su hermano - No (tema) usted a su hermano | Fear your brother - Don't fear your brother
Parta con su hermano - No parta con su hermano | Leave with your brother - Don't leave with your brother

Finally, an example of formal imperative with ustedes (you plural) that uses the regular verbs caminar (to walk) and perdonar (to forgive), this last one with a suffix pronoun!