Будь лучшей версией себя!
Be the best you!
Век живи – век учись.
Live and learn. (proverb)
Больше слушай – меньше горови.
Be swift to hear, slow to speak. (proverb)
Знай край, да не падай.
Know your limits. (proverb)
The time has finally come for us to learn how to command someone to do something in Russian. Finally, you can be a little bossy! 🙂
Since I love grammar, I will use the correct term. This is the imperative mood.
Forming the imperative mood in Russian is not an easy concept to explain. I’ve seen it taught in several different ways; all are more or less effective in getting you to form it correctly. So, I’m going to try my best to give a bunch of rules of thumb to best mitigate the difficulties.
| First Conjugation |
Forming the imperative form for first-conjugation verbs ending in –ать/ять is extremely easy.
First, form the ты form in the present tense. Let’s use делать [to do, to make].
| делаю | делаешь | делают |
Having located it, we then remove the final three letters: –ешь. We are now left with the stem: дела-.
Finally, because the stem ends in a vowel, we must add й.
The end result is делай. Easy-peasy!
This works with all first conjugation verbs ending in –ать/ять.
| делать (to do, to make) | дела- [stem] | делай (do, make) |
| работать (to work) | работа- [stem] | работай (work) |
| слушать (to listen) | слуша- [stem] | слушай (listen) |
| объяснять (to explain) | объясня– [stem] | объясняй (explain) |
| доверять (to trust) | доверя– [stem] | доверяй (trust) |
| принимать [to take] | принима– [stem] | принимай (take) |
| заказывать [to order] | заказыва- [stem] | заказывай (order) |
| трогать [to touch] | трога- [stem] | трогай (touch) |
| прыгать [to jump] | прыга- [stem] | прыгай (jump) |
| начинать [to start] | начина– [stem] | начинай (start) |
| Работай быстрее! Work faster! |
| Слушай песни на русском. Listen to songs in Russian. |
| Доверяй твоим друзьям. Trust your friends. |
| Принимай эти лекарства. Take these medicines. |
| Всегда начинай утро с чашки кофе. Always start the morning with a cup of coffee. |
| Second Conjugation |
And for second-conjugation verbs ending in –ить, it’s a little more complex.
Let’s remove the ending first: –ить.
Here is what you need to do – conjugate the verb in the first-person singular [я conjugation], then check where the stress is.
See it helps to know where the stress lies in a conjugation!
If the stress is on the ending, add и. If it’s not, add ь.
| говорить (to speak) | говор- [stem] | говорю [я] | говори (speak) |
| любить (to love) | люб- [stem] | люблю [я] | люби (love) |
| готовить (to prepare) | готов- [stem] | готовлю [я] | готовь (prepare) |
| ответить (to answer) | ответ- [stem] | отвечу [я] | ответь (answer) |
| Смотри на меня, пожалуйста. Look at me, please. |
| Люби меня! Love me! |
| Говори на русском. Speak in Russian. |
| Так держи! Keep it up! [phrase of encouragement] |
| Чисти зубы после еды. Brush your teeth after eating. |
And now, for some fun, let’s look at some song lyrics where the imperative is utilized. Listening to Russian pop songs can be fun, but it’s not always the most useful for your advancement in the language. The problem is that many of them contain unusual word orders, colloquial speech, weird plays on words, metaphors, etc.
There exist, however, songs that are easy to understand and that utilize grammar in a fun and memorable way for a learner of Russian. Here are lyrics taken from some of my favorite songs. I’ve included the song title and the artist.
Посмотри в глаза, – не назад.
Я просто люблю тебя [MOLLY]
Обними меня, и люби меня!
Look into my eyes, don’t look back.
Embrace me and love me!
Закрой глаза и прошепчи мне «Да».
Закрой глаза [Егор Крид]
Close your eyes and whisper “yes” to me.
Словно сон, помоги мне проснуться.
Мало мне [TamerlanAlena]
Почувствуй пульс в моей груди.
И ни на шаг не отходи.
Just like a dream, help me wake up.
Feel the pulse in my chest.
And don’t move back even one step.
| –овать/евать Verbs |
For verbs of this type, the ending will always be –уй, once the ending [-овать/-евать] is axed off.
| действовать (to act) | действ– [stem] | действуй (act) |
| советовать (to advise) | совет– [stem] | советуй (advise) |
| Советуй им, что делать, пожалуйста. Advise them what to do, please. |
To help you remember the imperative form for these verbs, think of the extremely common and useful greeting that you probably first learned in your studies: Здравствуй(те)! This means hello, but literally it means be healthy, from the verb здравствовать.
Unfortunately, there are irregular imperative forms.
| пить [to drink] | пей [drink] |
| есть [to eat] | ешь [eat] |
| петь [to sing] | пой [sing] |
| быть [to be] | будь [eat] |
| идти [to go] | иди [go] |
| Ешьте фрукты и овощи каждый день. Eat fruits and vegetables every day. |
| Будьте добры, исправляйте мои ошибки. Would you be so kind as to correct my mistakes? |
To make any imperative formal or plural, just add the ending –те to the imperative.
| Расскажи о себе, пожалуйста. Расскажите о себе, пожалуйста. Tell (me) about yourself, please. |
| Reflexive Verbs [-ся] |
Forming the imperative for reflexive verbs is easy.
First identify what conjugation group they are in, next form the imperative, then add the proper reflexive ending.
If the imperative endings in a vowel, add –сь. If it ends in a consonant, add –ся.
| встречаться [to meet] | встреча- [stem] | встречаешься [ты] | встречайся [meet] |
| учиться [to study] | уч- [stem] | учусь [я] | учись [study] |
| Не учись в этом университете. Don’t study at this university. |
Forming the negative of the imperative is easy – just add не before the infinitive form.
And a little more advice. Don’t worry too much about the imperative form in Russian. Learn it as you go along. I say that, because it’s a little complicated to form. And also, I personally never properly learned the rules to forming it… until the very late stages of my studies.
Our lesson on commands has concluded. And since that was our topic, I’ll leave you with this.
Не сдавайтесь и удачи!
Don’t give up and good luck!
My Slavic Studies 