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Day 24 Premium

Getting things done — the imperative. the imperative

The imperative is the tense of commands, instructions and requests. 'Vai!' (go!), 'Senta, scusi' (excuse me — to a stranger), 'Aggiungi il sale' (add the salt). On Day 3 you learned a few formal direction commands; today you systematize the whole thing — informal (tu) for friends, formal (Lei) for officials, the negative, and how pronouns attach to the verb. It's the difference between 'Dammi la penna' (give me the pen — to a friend) and 'Mi dia la penna' (the polite version).

Estimated time25 minutesGoalGive commands, instructions and polite requests in both registers
Day 24 · 4 focused lessons

Your four lessons today

  1. Informal commands

    Tell a friend, flatmate or classmate what to do: 'Vai!' (go!), 'Prendi!' (take it!), 'Senti!' (listen!), 'Guarda!' (look!).

    Start lesson 18–10 min
    Informal commands
  2. Formal commands8–10 min
  3. Commands and pronouns8–10 min
  4. Following instructions8–10 min
India bridge

Hindi gives commands the same way — including the negative

The Italian negative command 'non + infinitive' maps almost exactly onto Hindi 'mat': 'mat jao' → 'non andare', 'mat chhuo' → 'non toccare'. Gluing a pronoun onto a command (dammi, dimmi) feels like Hindi attaching postpositions onto a word, so 'dammi' is less alien than it looks. And a recipe in Hindi is the same chain of commands — 'namak daalo, milao' = 'aggiungi il sale, mescola' — so reading an Italian ricetta will feel instantly familiar.

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