As promised several lessons ago, we will look at the rules for forming incentive sentences in the German language.
An imperative sentence has no subject and the verb comes first.
Different verbs form the imperative mood in different ways. Let's look at some examples of strong and weak verbs.
Formation of the imperative mood with weak verbs
- Addressing “you” (du).
- Polite address as "you".
Tanz(e) – Dance!
Erzähle! - Tell me!
Interessiere dich! - Take an interest!
Tanzt! - Dance!
Erzählt! - Tell me!
Interessiert euch! - Be interested!
Tanzen Sie! - Dance!
Forming the imperative mood with strong verbs
- Addressing “you” (du).
- Addressing "you", but to a group of people (ihr).
- Polite address as "you".
Sprich! - Speak! (from the verb sprechen - to speak)
Gib! - Give it! (from the verb geben - to give)
Fahr! - Go! (from the verb fahren - to go)
Sprecht! - Speak!
Gebt! - Let's!
Fahrt! - Go!
Sprechen Sie! - Speak!
As you can see, in the plural, the imperative mood of weak and strong verbs is formed according to the same rule.
The main difference is that in the singular of the first, weak verbs have an -e ending (for example, tanze), and strong ones have a zero ending (for example, sprich).
Another important feature is the change in the root vowel of some strong verbs, which change the vowel in the 2nd and 3rd person singular. Most often, verbs with the letters “e” in the root undergo changes - the vowel changes to “i” or “ie”. For example:
empfehlen - to advise
2nd sheet, singular: Empfiehl!
2nd letter, plural: Empfehlt!
Polite form: Empfehlen Sie!
In colloquial speech, the ending “e” is also dropped in weak verbs. Very often in informal communication the particle “mal” appears, which is similar to the Russian particle “ka”, in such expressions as: look - guck mal!, say - sag mal!
The polite form of the imperative mood is usually supplemented with the word “bitte” - please. Thus, the “command” turns into a request, which makes the phrase less harsh and much more pleasant to the addressee. For example:
Sagen Sie bitte…. - Tell me please…
Important! “bitte” is not separated by commas.
However, the imperative mood is not used very often in German, and for requests it is better to use forms of the subjunctive mood and phrases such as:
Könnten Sie mir bitte sagen…/ Würden Sie bitte sagen…. - Could you tell (me)...
If you want to offer something to your interlocutor, then the formula to use is very simple:
Tanzen wir!
Wollen wir tanzen!
As you remember, the verb “wollen” means “to want”, but in this case both sentences are translated as “Let’s dance!”, i.e. the modal verb in incentive sentences means “let’s”.
As for the verb “sein” - “to be”, its forms of the imperative mood just need to be remembered:
2nd sheet, singular: Sei! - Be!
2nd letter, plural: Seid! - Be!
Polite form: Seien Sie! Be!
Sentence: Sien wir! Wollen wir sein!
The last two forms are unlikely to come across you in everyday communication, but it will not hurt to know them.
Lesson assignments
Form the forms of the imperative mood (2nd person singular; 2nd person plural; polite form) from the following verbs:
- geben
- lesen (read)
- machen (to do)
- sagen
- kommen (to come)
- sehen (look)
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Imperative mood in German is formed in the following ways...->
Forms of the imperative mood are formed:
1. From the form of the 2nd person units. present tense numbers by du and endings - st . In this case, the ending can be added - e .
Example/Beispiel:
Du gehst zu langsam. Geh schneller! You're walking too slow. Go faster!
Du freust dich nicht. Freu(e) dich doch! You are not happy. Rejoice!
Du kaufst zu viel ein. Kauf(e) nicht so viel ein! You're buying too much. Don't buy so much!
For irregular verbs in which the 2nd person is singular. present tense there is a vowel change a -> ä, in the imperative vowel the original vowel is returned (A).
Example/Beispiel:
Du fährst zu langsam. Fahr schneller! You're driving too slow. Drive faster!
2. From the 2nd person plural form. numbers of the present tense, the imperative mood in German is formed by dropping the personal pronoun ihr . The verb does not change in any way and comes first in the declarative sentence.
Example/Beispiel:
Ihr helft mir nicht. Helft mir! You are not helping me. Help me!
Ihr geht zu langsam. Geht schneller!! You are walking too slowly. Go faster!
3. The imperative mood in German is also formed from the 1st person plural form. numbers of the present tense by reversing the personal pronoun wir and verb.
Example/Beispiel:
Wir gehen zu langsam. Gehen wir schneller!! We're going too slow. Let's go faster!
Wir fahren zu schnell! Fahren wir langsamer! We're going too fast. Let's go slower!
4. The imperative mood is also formed from the polite form of the verb by reversing the personal pronoun Sie and verb.
Example/Beispiel:
Sie fahren zu schnell! Fahren Sie langsamer! You're driving too fast. Drive slower! (The principle is similar to the construction of the imperative mood from the plural form of the 1st person wir).
Verbs sein and haben have irregular forms of the imperative mood:
Sei! Be! / Seid! Be! /Seien wir! Let's do it! /Seien Sie! Be!
Hab! Have it! /Habt! Have it! / Haben wir! Let's have it! / Haben Sie! Have it!
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Also interesting:
Imperative form
To express a request or order, a special imperative form is used - Imperative.
Franz, comm (mal) her! – Come here (du – you).
Jens und Petra, kommt mal her! - Come here (ihr - you).
Herr und Frau Schmidt, kommen Sie her! – Come here (Sie – You).
In the latter case (in a polite form) we simply see the reverse word order. Please note: it is not easy to say come over, A come over You (don't forget Sie).
Ihr kommt– you come(addressing children, friends or relatives with whom you are on a first-name basis). Here it is simply omitted ihr: Kommt! – Come over!
Of particular interest is the first form (du – you). you take du commst– are you coming and take away the personal ending - st. It turns out comm! - come!
But, you say, wouldn’t it be easier to just take Infinitive(indefinite form commen) and remove - en? This is possible, but you just need to remember that we have several verbs that are in the forms You And He change the root vowel:
geben (to give) – du gibst (you give) – gib! (give me!)
sehen (look) – du siehst (you look) – sieh mal! (look at that!)
What happens to verbs that are in forms You And He get Umlaut?
fahren (to go) – du fährst (you are going) – fahr! (go!)
laufen (to run) – du läufst (you are running) – lauf! (run!)
As you can see, in an imperative form Umlaut evaporates.
We also have verbs that were inserted for ease of pronunciation -e– before personal graduations -st, –t. IN Imperative This - e is saved.
arbeiten (work) – du arbeitest (you work) – arbeite! (work!)
öffnen (open) – du öffnest (you open) – öffne! (open!)
And also for verbs -eln, –ern:
lächeln (smile) – lächle! (smile!), ändern (change) – ändere! (change it, change it!)
And finally, another such case:
entschuldigen (excuse me) – du entschuldigst (you excuse me) – entschuldige! (sorry!)
The point is that - ig at the end of the word is pronounced [ ugh]. Therefore, to preserve the pronunciation [ ig], is added - e.
In general, before all verbs were added -e(except those that change -e– on -i– at the root). So you can also find more “old-fashioned” forms: Komme! Laufe!
Special forms have in Imperative auxiliary verbs. Compare:
Du bist vorsichtig. - You're careful.
Sei vorsichtig! - Be careful!
Sie sind sparsam. - You are thrifty.
Seien Sie nicht so sparsam! - Don't be so economical!
Seien Sie bitte so nett... - Please be so kind (nice)...
Ihr seid retains its shape:
Kinder, seid ruhig, bitte! - Children, be quiet! ("Be calm!")
Du hast Angst. – You are afraid (have fear).
Hab keine Angst! - Don't be afraid!
Du wirst böse. – You will be angry (you will become, you will be angry).
Werd(e) nur nicht böse. - Just don’t be angry!
A particularly polite request is expressed in the form würden+ Infinitive, where the auxiliary verb würden seems to correspond to the Russian particle would:
Würden Sie bitte bis morgen alle Formalitäten erledigen. – Settle (would you settle), please, all the formalities by tomorrow.
Besides, Imperative can also be aimed at the form We, then the following options are possible:
(Los!) Tanzen wir! - (Come on!) Let's dance!
Wollen wir tanzen! - Let's dance! (literally: We want to dance!)
Lass uns tanzen! - Let's dance! (Let us, let us dance!)
Sometimes, as in Russian, Imperative can also be expressed in an indefinite form:
Einsteigen bitte! - Please sit down! (in transport).
Nicht öffnen, bevor der Zug hält! – Do not open until the train stops.
Nevermind! - Don't interfere!
Karten hier entwerten. – Here to validate (literally: devalue) tickets.
To see how forms of the imperative mood are formed, let's take several weak and strong verbs - for example, sagen - talk, say, zeigen - show, wiederholen - repeat, on the one hand, and kommen - come, sprechen - talk, talk and geben - give- on the other.
Weak verbs
Strong verbs
In the plural, the imperative is formed in the same way for weak and strong verbs. But in the singular, weak verbs have an ending -e(zeige, etc.), and strong ones have a zero ending (komm, etc.). At the same time, some strong verbs also change the root vowel - namely those in which the root vowel changes in the 2nd and 3rd person singular (see above).
In colloquial speech the ending -e in the 2nd l. units The imperative is often discarded in weak verbs: not sage, but sag and so on (because -e given above in parentheses).
Particle mal corresponds to the Russian “-ka” and in colloquial speech is often used with the 2nd liter imperative. singular: sag mal - tell me, schau mal - look at that.
In grammar there is an imperative, in everyday life there are continuous requests. Therefore, the German imperative (if we are not in the ranks of the Bundeswehr) has actually merged with the word bitte - Please. For polite form, this is the law:
- Sagen Sie bitte... - Tell me please...
- Zeigen Sie bitte... - Show me please...
- Wiederholen Sie bitte... - Repeat please...
- Kommen Sie bitte... - Come please...
In writing, “bitte” is not separated by commas.
If you want to ask a question about how to get somewhere, etc., then in principle you can say: “Sagen Sie bitte...” But it is better to use formulas:
- Würden Sie bitte sagen... - You might say...
- Verzeihung / Entschuldigung, würden Sie bitte sagen... - Sorry (sorry), you might say...
- Bitte schön, würden Sie sagen... - Could you please say...
This is a polite request in the subjunctive mood (like the English would), most appropriate in such cases.
What if we need to offer something to our companions? “Let's go!”, “Let's sleep!” and so on - how to say this?
Here “bitte” (except in some special cases) is not used. This is an energetic request-motivation.
- Gehen wir! - Let's go!
- Wollen wir gehen! - Let's go!
- Schlafen wir! - Let's sleep!
- Wollen wir schlafen! - Let's sleep!
The verb wollen means want(for more details, see the part “To want is to be able”), but here it corresponds to the Russian “let’s” in incentive sentences.
- Wollen wir Deutsch sprechen! - Let's speak German!