Imperative in Portuguese: How to Give Commands & Make Requests

Like other Romance languages, Portuguese has a rich system of verb conjugations, including the Imperative mood.

The Imperative is used to give commands, instructions, suggestions, and directions—whether in everyday conversations, at work, or in public settings.

Importantly, using the Portuguese Imperative correctly depends on several factors: the level of formality, whether you’re speaking to one person or a group, and whether the command is affirmative or negative.

Here’s an example with the verb falar (to speak):

Informal (singular)	Fala mais baixo. Lower your voice
Informal (singular, negation)	Não fales mais baixo. Don’t lower your voice
Formal (singular)	Fale mais baixo. Lower your voice
Plural (any tone)	Falem mais baixo. Lower your voice

The challenge here lies in knowing when to use each form while also remembering the correct conjugation. Fortunately, there are some useful tricks to help you with that. Read on.

Lesson #70 Imperative Regular Verbs - Portuguesepedia

Lesson #82 Imperative All Verbs - Portuguesepedia

Two Paths to Recall the Imperative forms

1. Tweaking the Present Tense

This strategy is simple, straightforward, and popular among beginners.

You start with the first-person singular (eu) of the Present Simple of the verb in question. From there, you tweak its ending to find the Imperative form you need. All it takes is learning a few pattern adjustments, as shown below.

But there’s a caveat! It only works for regular verbs.

Granted, most verbs are regular and therefore, this strategy is still widely applicable and useful. However, as you may know, some of the most frequently used verbs are irregular.

That said, let’s learn these tweaks.

Learn more about regular conjugation:
Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Present Tense
Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Past Tense

Singular and informal (tu)

In informal contexts, the Imperative form changes depending on whether the sentence is affirmative or negative.

To determine both affirmative and negative forms for each verb conjugation group, we adjust the endings of the first-person singular (eu) form in the Present Tense, following these patterns:

	FIRST-PERSON Present tense	IMPERATIVE 1 affirmation	IMPERATIVE 2 negation
-ar \| andar	ando	anda!	não andes!
-er \| beber	bebo	bebe!	não bebas!
-ir \| partir	parto	parte!	não partas!

Singular and formal (você)

In formal contexts, there is only one Imperative form (regardless of whether the sentence is affirmative or negative).

To find this form for each conjugation group, we adjust the endings of the first-person singular (eu) form in the Present Tense according to the following patterns:

	FIRST-PERSON Present tense	IMPERATIVE 3
-ar \| andar	ando	(não) ande!
-er \| beber	bebo	(não) bebe!
-ir \| partir	parto	(não) parta!

Plural (vocês)

When addressing a group of people, we adjust the endings of the first-person singular (eu) form in the Present Tense according to the following patterns:

	FIRST-PERSON Present tense	IMPERATIVE 4
-ar \| andar	ando	(não) andem!
-er \| beber	bebo	(não) bebam!
-ir \| partir	parto	(não) partam!

Again, all these spelling tweaks won’t work with irregular verbs. To handle those, you’ll need to adopt the second strategy outlined below or simply memorize the forms over time.

Irregular verbs

Here are the Imperative forms of six widely used irregular verbs*:

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