Moods

The Imperative Mood

The imperative mood is used for direct commands, that is, when ordering someone to do something or refrain from doing something. In English the imperative mood can also suggest or urge, as well as command: "Let's go!" or "Let them have cake!" But in Latin the imperative mood is reserved strictly for direct commands, and suggestions or urgings are put in a mood called the hortatory subjunctive (you can read more about this in subjunctive explanations, if you wish).

To form the imperative in Latin, use the present active infinitive, i.e., the second principal part:

• When commanding only one person, simply drop -re from the infinitive: amare becomes ama!, video becomes vide!, and so on.
• When commanding two or more people, drop -re from the infinitive and add -te: clamare becomes clamate!, audire becomes audite!, and so on. HOWEVER, with 3rd conjugation verbs change the vowel to a short -i before adding the final -te: mittere becomes mittite!, capio becomes capite!, et cetera.

A note on pronuncing the plural imperatives: when the vowel preceding '-te' is long (usually indicated by a macron), stress that syllable, as in Ambulâte! Vidête! Audîte! When a short 'i' is used, as in 3rd conjugation verbs, put the stress on the syllable before it, as in Câpite! and Lêgite!

There are a very few irregular forms that you will need to learn:

Negative imperative verb forms ("Don't do that!"): Use the imperative form of nolo, nolle, nolui, 'not want', followed by the present active infinitive of the desired verb. This rule holds for all verbs, regular and irregular:

Latin III students can take this ungraded Imperatives practice: The Imperative

Also see Imperatives of Deponent Verbs

^ Grammatica