This explanation covers the indirect (formal) imperative form, that is to say the formal third person singular with ‘Lei’ rather than the second person ‘tu’ form.
For regular verbs, those belonging to the first group (e.g. cant-are) add the ending -i whereas verbs in the second and third groups (e.g. mett-ere, dorm-ire) add the ending -a. For example:
Verbs ending in -are
studiare- studi (Lei)
mangiare – mangi (Lei)
cantare – canti (Lei)
Verbs ending in -ere o -ire
leggere – legga (Lei)
scrivere – scriva (Lei)
dormire – dorma (Lei)
sentire – senta (Lei)
Here are the most frequent irregular verbs conjugated in the formal ‘Lei’ imperative:
fare – faccia (Lei)
andare – vada (Lei)
dire – dica (Lei)
dare -dia (Lei)
stare – stia (Lei)
essere – sia (Lei)
avere – abbia (Lei)
When we use reflexive verbs in the formal ‘Lei’ imperative form, the reflexive pronoun ‘si’ remains separated from the verb, as in these examples:
spostarsi – si sposti (Lei)
svegliarsi – si svegli (Lei)
vestirsi – si vesta (Lei)
Direct pronouns also remain separated from the verb:
dire + lo = dirlo – non lo dica (Lei)
fare + lo = farlo – non lo faccia (Lei)
fare + mi = farmi – non mi faccia (Lei)
Negative verbs are formed simply by putting the negation ‘non’ before the verb, for example:
fare – non faccia (Lei)
dire – non dica (Lei)
vedere – non veda (Lei)
dormire – non dorma (Lei)
mettersi – non si metta (Lei)
sporcare – non si sporchi (Lei)
Back to Italian lesson on: The Imperative
