Formal commands Preview Formal commands Spelling changes Plural forms of commands
Formal commands To tell someone you address as usted to do something, use formal commands. To form them, replace the final -o of the yo form with -e for -ar verbs and -a for -er and -ir verbs. comprar: yo compro comer: yo como abrir: yo abro compre (buy) no compre (don’t buy) coma (eat) no coma (don’t eat) abra (open) no abra (don’t open) Abra la ventana, por favor. Open the window, please.
Spelling changes Verbs ending in -car, -gar, -zar, -ger, and -guir have spelling changes in their formal command forms. sacar: saque (take out) no saque (don’t take out) llegar: llegue (arrive) no llegue (don’t arrive) organizar: organice (organize) no organice (don’t organize) recoger: recoja (pick up) no recoja (don’t pick up) seguir (i): siga (keep going) no siga (don’t keep going) No llegue tarde. Don’t arrive late to first period.
Plural forms of commands To tell two or more people to do or not to do something, add -n to the formal command form. Muchachos, abran la ventana, por favor. Ramón y Alfredo, no vean tanta televisión.