01 · The one every recipe uses
Habla más despacio, por favor.
Speak more slowly, please.
Regular tú commands just borrow the él/ella present-tense form — no new ending to learn, and no -s on the end.
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Do This!
Give directions, share a recipe, make a polite request — and have it come out right.
Affirmative tú commands use the él/ella present-tense form — habla, come, escribe — not the infinitive, and with no -s (habla, never hablas). Eight everyday verbs go irregular: pon, ven, sal, di, haz, ten, sé, ve — pon la mesa, di la verdad. Everything else runs on the subjunctive: negative tú commands (no hables, no hagas ruido) and all usted commands (hable con la recepcionista, no se preocupe). Pronouns attach to the end of affirmative commands — dime, hazlo, siéntate — but move in front of negative ones: no me digas.
Below: each command form lesson by lesson, how Argentina's vos reshapes them, the mistakes that mark a learner — and how you practise by actually bossing someone around out loud, not with flashcards or drills.
The warm-up pack
The eleven commands you'll actually give out loud — not a verb table, a person on the other end doing what you say.
01 · The one every recipe uses
Habla más despacio, por favor.
Speak more slowly, please.
Regular tú commands just borrow the él/ella present-tense form — no new ending to learn, and no -s on the end.
02 · The trick with pon
Pon la mesa para la cena.
Set the table for dinner.
Poner breaks the pattern — the command is pon, not pone. Eight everyday verbs do this, and they're worth learning as a set.
03 · Bring someone closer
Ven aquí un momento.
Come here for a moment.
Same irregular family as pon — venir shrinks to ven. Short, and said constantly.
04 · Send someone off
Sal de la casa ahora.
Leave the house now.
Salir → sal. It sounds urgent because it is — this is the one you'd actually shout.
05 · Cut the excuses
Di la verdad.
Tell the truth.
Decir → di, the shortest irregular command there is. Easy to say, easy to remember.
06 · Get it done
Haz tu tarea antes de jugar.
Do your homework before playing.
Hacer → haz, never hace. It's the same haz you'll hear from every parent in every kitchen.
07 · The one that trips everyone up
No hables tan alto.
Don't talk so loud.
Negative commands don't reuse the affirmative form — they switch to the subjunctive stem, hables instead of habla.
08 · Protecting someone else
No hagas ruido, el bebé duerme.
Don't make noise, the baby is sleeping.
Same no + subjunctive pattern, now on an irregular stem — hagas, from hacer. It comes up more than you'd think.
09 · Sounding professional
Hable con la recepcionista.
Speak to the receptionist. (formal)
Usted commands always run on the subjunctive, whether you're telling someone to do something or not to.
10 · The reassurance
No se preocupe.
Don't worry. (formal)
Same usted pattern, negative this time — it's what you say, formally, to calm someone down.
11 · Handing something over
Dáselo a tu hermana.
Give it to your sister.
Pronouns attach straight onto affirmative commands — da + se + lo becomes one word instead of three.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/do-thisRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico & most of Latin America (tú) | Argentina (vos) |
|---|---|---|
| Speak more slowly | Habla más despacio | Hablá más despacio |
| Set the table | Pon la mesa | Poné la mesa |
| Come here | Ven aquí | Vení acá |
| Tell me the truth | Dime la verdad | Decime la verdad |
| Sit down here | Siéntate aquí | Sentate acá |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
No flashcards, no fill-in-the-blanks — in the Do This! lessons the commands are yours to give, out loud, and Carla is on the receiving end. She asks for a simple recipe and you walk her through it in short orders: mezcla, cocina, sirve. Then she cycles you through the irregulars — pon, ven, sal, di, haz — each one in a real sentence, and finally flips you back and forth until the pronoun lands by itself: dime / no me digas, háblame / no me hables.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 5 lessons and Do This! is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Use the él/ella present-tense form: habla, come, escribe, abre la puerta. Two traps: it's not the infinitive (hablar is not a command), and there's no -s — habla, not hablas.
Eight short ones: pon (poner), ven (venir), sal (salir), di (decir), haz (hacer), ten (tener), sé (ser), ve (ir) — pon la mesa, ven aquí un momento, haz tu tarea.
Switch to the present subjunctive: no hables tan alto, no comas tan rápido, no hagas ruido, no vayas por esa calle de noche. Any pronoun goes in front of the verb: no me digas mentiras.
Both affirmative and negative usted commands use the subjunctive: hable con la recepcionista, escriba su dirección aquí, venga a mi oficina a las tres, no se preocupe.
Attached to the end when affirmative — dime, hazlo ahora, siéntate aquí, dáselo a tu hermana — and in front of the verb when negative: no me digas, not no dime.