French Command Forms

Although command forms have two tenses in French – present and past – there is no need to worry too much about the past, as it is almost never used. We’ll focus here on the present tense of command forms.

two principles

• 1. first principle: there are only three forms in the French command form:

• familiar – 2^nd person singular
• inclusive – 1^st person plural
• formal – 2^nd person plural

• 2. second principle: there are no personal pronouns in the French command form:

• Sois sympa ! (Be nice)             not             tu sois sympa !
• Vendons ! (Let’s sell)              not             nous vendons !
• Levez-vous ! (Get up)             not             vous levez-vous !

Notes

• Very often, French commands come with an exclamation point.
• Some verbs do not have a command form: pouvoir (to be able to, can), pleuvoir (to rain), falloir (to have to, must), faillir[verbe] (to almost [verb] something),

I get into a lot more detail in the premium material.

Practice

Translate these twenty sentences into French, using a command form.

1. Take a pen.
2. Let’s get out of the room.
3. Close the door.
4. Have patience.
5. Let’s be nice.
6. Know your lesson by tomorrow.
7. Please sign here.
8. Don’t eat too much cake.
9. Stop there.
10. Let’s not pick any.
11. Sit down.
12. Let’s not rush.
13. Have fun.
14. Go away.
15. Let’s not sleep here.
16. Don’t be so angry.
17. Don’t run.
18. Please don’t speak so fast.
19. Don’t listen to what she says.
20. Don’t take a stroll in this park.

Get the answers in the Premium worksheet here.

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