Diplomatic Bag
Commands that land — pronouns attached, stress kept, register matched — said out loud.
Affirmative commands carry their pronouns attached: dímelo otra vez — and once a clitic is attached, a written accent keeps the stress where it was (dime → dímelo). Negative commands put them before the verb and switch to the subjunctive: no me lo digas ahora — it's no pongas, never no pon. The order is fixed, indirect before direct, and le/les becomes se before lo/la: no se lo digas, dáselo. And when a bare command would sting, soften it instead of changing the verb: ¿podrías repetírmelo?, ¿le importaría esperar?.
Below: commands across every register, where the pronouns go, what Argentina does differently — and a way to practise it all out loud in a real exchange, no flashcards, no conjugation drills.
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Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Most of Latin America | Argentina & Uruguay |
|---|---|---|
| come here | ven aquí | vení |
| tell me | dime | decime |
| do it | haz | hacelo |
| speak | habla | hablá |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
No conjugation tables to fill in — in the Diplomatic Bag lessons you give real instructions out loud, and Carla keeps changing who's listening. To a friend it's dime; to a client it's dígame. She has you attach the pronouns at speed — dímelo otra vez — then flip the same command negative without dropping a beat: no me lo digas ahora. And when a direct order would sound abrupt, you soften it live — ¿podrías repetírmelo?, ¿le importaría esperar? — until the register switch starts happening by itself.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Diplomatic Bag is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Attaching clitics adds syllables, so a written accent marks where the stress stays: dímelo, tráemela, explíquemelo. Writing 'dimelo' or 'traemela' without the accent is one of the most common slips.
Le/les always becomes se before lo/la/los/las: no se lo digas, dáselo. 'No le lo digas' is never grammatical.
Every negative command uses no + the present subjunctive: no pongas, no hagas — never 'no pon' or 'no haz'. The pronouns move in front of the verb too: póntelo becomes no te lo pongas.
The stress shifts to the last syllable and the final -d disappears: hablá, vení, decime, hacelo. In casual speech vos negatives often borrow tú forms (no hables), though the academic norm is no hablés.
Use an indirect request instead of the imperative: ¿podrías repetírmelo?, ¿le importaría esperar?, or the question frame ¿me pasas la sal?. With usted, adding por favor or si es tan amable is expected, not optional.
