Imperative Mood in Russian

In Brief

Russian uses the imperative mood (a verb form for commands and requests) when telling someone what to do: читай “read,” говори “speak,” сядь “sit down.” The basic form addresses one person informally; add -те to address several people or one person formally: читайте, говорите, сядьте. Put не before the verb to make a negative command.

Overview

The Russian imperative is useful far beyond strict orders. You hear it in requests, directions, invitations, recipes, classroom instructions, and everyday phrases such as Скажите, пожалуйста… “Please tell me…” Its force depends on context, intonation, and words such as пожалуйста “please.” The same grammatical form can sound warm, neutral, urgent, or abrupt.

This topic begins at A1 because a small set of common forms lets you handle practical situations quickly. Russian does not normally state a subject pronoun with a direct command: Слушай! simply means “Listen!” The person being addressed is understood. Unlike English, however, Russian marks whether you are speaking informally to one person or using plural/formal address.

To understand how the forms are built, it helps to know a verb’s present-tense pattern. The stem (the stable part of a verb to which an ending is attached) is often visible in its present-tense forms. Still, many frequent imperatives have stem or stress changes, so learn them with the verb rather than relying only on the infinitive.

How It Works

The essential two-form pattern

Russian has a basic informal singular command and a corresponding plural or polite command.

Addressee	Form	Example	Meaning
one person addressed as ты	basic imperative	Читай!	Read!
several people addressed as вы	basic form + -те	Читайте!	Read!
one person addressed politely as Вы	basic form + -те	Читайте!	Read!

The capital Вы is common in personal correspondence when respectfully addressing one person. In ordinary sentences and many modern public texts, lowercase вы is also used. The spoken form is identical.

The three common endings

The informal singular usually ends in -й, -и, or -ь. Formation is linked to the present (or perfective future) stem, but the following patterns are more useful than a single mechanical rule.

Pattern	Infinitive	Informal singular	Formal/plural	Meaning
stem ends in a vowel: often -й	читать	читай	читайте	read
stem ends in a vowel: often -й	делать	делай	делайте	do, make
ending is stressed or the stem needs a vowel: often -и	говорить	говори	говорите	speak
-и with a changed stem	писать	пиши	пишите	write
consonant + -ь	сесть	сядь	сядьте	sit down
consonant + -ь	забыть	забудь	забудьте	forget

The soft sign ь is not pronounced as a separate sound. It usually signals that the preceding consonant is soft. When -те is added, the soft sign remains: сядь → сядьте, not сядте.

Stress matters. In many verbs, a stressed singular first-person present form points toward -и: говорю́ → говори́, пишу́ → пиши́. But frequent verbs are best memorized as pairs: встать → встань, лечь → ляг, есть → ешь, пить → пей, дать → дай.

Negative commands

Put не directly before the imperative:

• Не говори так. — Don’t speak like that.
• Не открывайте окно. — Don’t open the window.
• Не забудь паспорт. — Don’t forget your passport.

Russian needs no equivalent of English do in “don’t.” The structure is simply не + imperative. Object pronouns and reflexive -ся/-сь stay with the verb as usual: Не волнуйся “Don’t worry”; Позвоните мне “Call me.”

Making a request sound polite

The imperative alone can sound direct, especially between strangers. Пожалуйста softens it and can come before or after the request:

• Повторите, пожалуйста. — Please repeat that.
• Пожалуйста, подождите минуту. — Please wait a minute.

A question with можете “can you” is often still softer: Можете повторить? “Could you repeat that?” Russian does not require “please” in every family instruction, but tone and relationship matter.

Saying “let’s”

For a suggestion involving the speaker and other people, use давай with one person addressed informally and давайте with several people or one person addressed politely.

Addressee	Pattern	Example	Meaning
one informal person	давай + infinitive	Давай читать.	Let’s read.
plural/formal	давайте + infinitive	Давайте начинать.	Let’s begin.
one informal person	давай + мы-form	Давай пойдём.	Let’s go.
plural/formal	давайте + мы-form	Давайте пойдём.	Let’s go.

The мы-form is the first-person plural (“we”) form. With a perfective verb, it has future meaning: пойдём “we will go.” At beginner level, learn common suggestions as whole expressions: Давай посмотрим, Давайте начнём, Давайте пойдём.

Russian has no ordinary direct imperative meaning “I must do this.” Direct imperatives address ты or вы; inclusive suggestions use the patterns above.

Examples in Context

Russian	English	Note
Читай! Читайте!	Read! (informal / formal or plural)	The second form adds -те.
Говори медленнее, пожалуйста.	Speak more slowly, please.	Informal request to one person.
Скажите, пожалуйста, где метро.	Please tell me where the metro is.	A standard polite request to a stranger.
Откройте учебник.	Open your textbook.	Plural classroom instruction or polite singular.
Подожди минуту.	Wait a minute.	Informal singular.
Не забудь ключи!	Don’t forget the keys!	не precedes a perfective imperative.
Не волнуйтесь, всё хорошо.	Don’t worry; everything is fine.	Polite/plural reflexive form.
Сядь здесь.	Sit down here.	Irregular stem; singular -ь form.
Будьте осторожны!	Be careful!	Irregular imperative of быть.
Позвони мне вечером.	Call me this evening.	A request for one completed action.
Давай читать вместе.	Let’s read together.	Informal suggestion with an infinitive.
Давайте пойдём!	Let’s go!	давайте plus the “we” form.
Возьмите чек.	Take the receipt.	Polite or plural perfective command.
Пусть Анна войдёт.	Let Anna come in.	Third-person instruction; advanced pattern.

Common Mistakes

Adding -те to the infinitive

• Wrong: читатьте, говоритьте
• Right: читайте, говорите
• Why: -те is added to the singular imperative (читай, говори), not to the infinitive (читать, говорить).

Using a singular command with formal Вы

• Wrong: Скажи, пожалуйста (to a stranger you address as Вы)
• Right: Скажите, пожалуйста.
• Why: Formal singular Вы uses the same -те imperative as plural вы.

Copying English “don’t” with an extra verb

• Wrong: Не делай говорить.
• Right: Не говори.
• Why: Russian forms a negative command with не + imperative. There is no auxiliary equivalent to English do.

Dropping the soft sign before -те

• Wrong: сядте, забудте
• Right: сядьте, забудьте
• Why: If the singular ends in -ь, keep it before -те.

Assuming every verb forms the imperative directly from the infinitive

• Wrong: писай for “write”
• Right: пиши
• Why: The present stem may change: писать → пишу → пиши. Learn high-frequency imperative forms individually. Be especially careful here: писай is a different, colloquial verb with an unrelated meaning.

Using давайте with a second-person command

• Wrong: Давайте пойдите.
• Right: Давайте пойдём.
• Why: In this “let’s” pattern, use an infinitive or a first-person-plural (“we”) form, not a second-person imperative.

Usage Notes

Commands are not always commanding

English speakers sometimes avoid imperatives because a bare English command can sound harsh. Russian uses imperatives freely for requests and routine instructions, but the social choice between ты and вы remains important. Дай воды is natural with a close friend or family member; Дайте, пожалуйста, воды suits polite service interaction better.

Recipes, signs, and manuals often use the formal/plural form because it addresses an unspecified reader: Добавьте соль “Add salt,” Нажмите кнопку “Press the button.” An infinitive can also appear on signs as an impersonal instruction, often with a more official tone: Не входить “No entry / Do not enter.”

Verb aspect changes the viewpoint

Russian verbs commonly come in aspect pairs: imperfective presents an action as ongoing, repeated, or viewed as a process; perfective presents it as a single bounded action with a result. This distinction affects commands:

Imperfective	Perfective	Typical contrast
читай	прочитай	read / read through to completion
звони	позвони	call regularly or get on with calling / make one call
открывай	открой	start/open in process or repeated context / open it as one completed act

For a one-time request with a desired result, perfective is frequent: Закрой дверь “Close the door.” Imperfective can urge someone to begin or continue: Открывай! “Go on, open it!” It also suits repeated instructions: Звони каждый день “Call every day.” Context can shift these nuances, so do not translate aspect by adding one fixed English word.

Negative commands deserve special attention. Imperfective is common for general prohibitions or for telling someone not to continue: Не курите здесь “Do not smoke here,” Не открывай окно “Don’t open the window.” Perfective is natural in warnings against a possible single outcome: Не забудь “Don’t forget,” Не опоздай “Don’t be late.” Treat this as a meaning contrast, not an absolute ban on perfective forms after не.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master these patterns at A1, but you will encounter them often.

Third-person instructions with пусть

To express “let him/her/them…” or “have someone do…,” Russian uses пусть plus an ordinary third-person verb form:

• Пусть он подождёт. — Let him wait.
• Пусть дети играют. — Let the children play.
• Пусть будет так. — Let it be so.

Пускай is a common, slightly more conversational alternative. Depending on tone, пусть may express permission, an instruction passed to someone else, acceptance, or even defiance.

Fixed and idiomatic forms

Some imperatives function like discourse phrases rather than literal commands. Слушай can introduce a thought (“Listen…”), смотрите can direct attention (“Look…”), and скажем literally has the form “we will say” but often means “let’s say / for example.” Будь добр (informal) and будьте добры (formal/plural), literally “be kind,” introduce courteous requests.

The verb быть has the imperative будь / будьте: Будь внимателен “Be attentive,” Будьте здоровы “Be healthy,” also said after a sneeze. The old form да здравствует… means “long live…” and belongs to slogans or elevated style rather than everyday beginner conversation.

Aspect can change politeness and urgency

An imperfective imperative may sound like encouragement to proceed when the action is already expected: Заходите! “Come in!” or Садитесь! “Have a seat!” In these conventional invitations, imperfective forms are often more natural than perfective ones. A perfective command can focus sharply on obtaining a result. This does not mean that one aspect is always polite and the other rude; situation, verb, intonation, and conventional usage all interact.

Practice Tips

1. Learn commands in two-form pairs. Put скажи — скажите, подожди — подождите, and сядь — сядьте on the same card. This builds formal/plural -те automatically and protects the soft sign.
2. Transform familiar present-tense verbs. Take five verbs you already know and check their imperative in a dictionary. Say one positive and one negative request with each: говори — не говори, читайте — не читайте.
3. Practice by situation, not just by ending. Imagine asking a friend, a group, and a stranger to do the same thing. Add пожалуйста, then compare an imperfective and perfective pair where available.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: First Conjugation Verbs — present-tense stems help you recognize and form many imperatives.