School of Humanities

Languages

Der Imperativ
You will see that there are four forms of the imperative in German, depending on whom you are
addressing:

 To suggest doing something i.e. Let’s go swimming, go to the wir part of the verb and
invert (switch them around) the subject and the verb.

Beispiel:

Wir gehen schwimmen.  Gehen wir schwimmen! ( Let’s go swimming!)

Wir trinken Wasser.  Trinken wir Wasser! (Let’s drink water!)

 The Sie- imperative follows the same pattern as the wir –imperative.

Beispiel:

Sie fahren nach Bremen.  Fahren Sie nach Bremen! (Go to Bremen!)
Sie essen Brötchen.  Essen Sie Brötchen! (Eat rolls!)

 For the ihr- imperative (talking to more than one friend or family member), simply take
away ihr from the present tense form.

Beispiel:

Ihr trinkt Milch.  Trinkt Milch! (Drink milk!)

Ihr fahrt nach Amerika.  Fahrt nach Amerika! (Go to America!)

 For the du – imperative, it is usually the verb stem without the ending but be careful with
stem-changing verbs; go to the du present tense and take off the ending. Refer to the
table at the top of page 102, Neue Horizonte (7th Ed.).

Beispiel:

Du gehst ohne mich.  Geh ohne mich! (Go without me!) but
Du gibst Anna eine Karte.  Gib Anna eine Karte! (Give Anna a card!)

Tipp! 1) Drop your voice at the end to distinguish the imperative from the question form.
2) An exclamation mark (das Ausrufezeichen) is common at the end of an imperative.

 The imperative of sein is irregular and you have to learn it off by heart.

o du- imperative: Sei glücklich, Markus! Be happy, Markus!

o wir – imperative: Seien wir freundlich! Let’s be friendly!
o ihr – imperative: Seid höflich, Kinder! Be polite, children!
o Sie – imperative: Seien Sie sportlich, Frau Braun! Be sporty, Mrs Braun! AY