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.
Say this
Regional 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.
