German Grammar Explained /
The Imperative Mood
The imperative mood is used to formulate commands or make requests.
In English, the imperative forms look like this:
Come here!
Close the door, please!
Call me!
In German, they look like this:
Komm her!
Come here!
Trink ein Bier mit mir!
Drink a beer with me!
In case you were wondering if her was a typo... Well, no.
There is a word in English, similar in meaning and in looks, you guessed it... It's "here". German, once more, is a little bit more specific about things, so they have two different words for "here".
- use hier when you talk about a fixed location
- use her when you talk about destination
Here are some examples of the imperative in German:
kommen → komm!
sagen → sag!
trinken → trink!
But: Irregular verbs will remain irregular in the imperative form!
sprechen → sprich!
sehen → sieh!
For irregular verbs, these two steps will help you:
1. CONJUGATE: sehen → du siehst
2. REMOVE: du siehst → Sieh!
Giving orders or commands using the imperative can sound a little harsh in German. Also, using bitte can sound a bit rude, even passive aggressive.
The solution? A little magic word doch. Don't ask what it means - there is no translation!
Komm her! → Komm doch her!
Why don't you come over here?
Just like there are three different words in German to say you, (du, ihr and Sie), there are also three different forms for the imperative.
Here are some examples:
du | ihr | Sie |
essen → iss! | essen → esst! | essen → essen Sie! |
trinken → trink! | trinken → trinkt! | trinken → trinken Sie! |
warten → warte! | warten → wartet! | warten → warten Sie! |
gehen → geh! | gehen → geht! | gehen → gehen Sie! |
Notice how the two steps apply for both the informal forms, but the formal Sie remains unchanged.
Now you can tell people to do things for you!