Level 66 - Imperatives and Il Faut 'it is necessary to'

The imperative form of a verb is used to give a command. It is very simple. To give a command to someone you know well use the tu form of the present tense and take off the final s if it's an -er verb. To give a polite command to someone you don't know, or to a number of people, use the vous form without saying vous. Finally, to suggest something to a number of people including yourself, use the nous form without nous. Here are some examples:

For negative imperatives just put ne and pas around the verb as normal: ne partez pas! = don't leave!

Irregular imperatives

The verbs with irregular imperatives are être 'to be', avoir 'to have' and savoir 'to know'. The word veuillez, from the verb vouloir 'to want', means 'please' before making a request with an infinitive.

Il faut

Il faut means 'it is necessary to' and can also be used instead of devoir 'to have to' to give a command or to say what needs to be done. Simply give an infinitive (the form which ends in -er, -re or -ir) afterwards to explain what it is necessary to do: