Back
Advanced

The Imperative

Commands

Imperative for commands (ти / ви)

Built from the present-tense stem.

📊 Imperative (читати / говорити)
Form читати говорити
ти читай говори
ви читайте говоріть
let's (1pl) читаймо говорімо
💬 Examples
Читай!
Chytay!
Read! (to one person)
📝 читати → читай
Читайте!
Chytayte!
Read! (polite/plural)
📝 + -те for ви
Aspect affects the imperative

Perfective for one completed action; imperfective for general or negatives.

💬 Examples
Прочитай це!
Prochytay tse!
Read this! (one task)
📝 Perfective imperative
Не читай це!
Ne chytay tse!
Don't read this!
📝 Negative → imperfective
'Let's': the -мо ending or давай(те)

For suggestions.

💬 Examples
Ходімо!
Khodimo!
Let's go!
📝 -мо = let's (synthetic)
Давайте почнемо.
Davayte pochnemo.
Let's begin.
📝 давайте + verb = let's