Question

Imagine you won a personal assistant for the day. What would you make him do for you? Write 5 complete commands in Spanish. The commands can be affirmative or negative. Examples: Make dinner. Give me money. Don't tell my secrets. You will be graded on (a) use of correct verb forms, (b) vocabulary usage, and (c) overall quality and correctness of each sentence.

Answer 1

Answer:

More informal:

1- Por favor, levanta la ropa de la soga.

2- Por favor, ve al supermercado y compra algo de pan.

3- Por favor, corta las verduras que están en la heladera.

4- Si alguien llama, no atiendas el teléfono.

5- No prendas el horno, prefiero que uses la hornalla para cocinar.

More formal:

1- Por favor, levante la ropa de la soga.

2- Por favor, vaya al supermercado y compra algo de pan.

3- Por favor, corte las verduras que están en la heladera.

4- Si alguien llama, no atienda el teléfono.

5- No prenda el horno, prefiero que use la hornalla para cocinar.

Explanation:

In Spanish, the verb forms are conjugated in the imperative mood to express commands. In this case, as you are telling your personal assistant what to do, the verb must be conjugated in the 2nd person "tú" or 3rd person "usted". You can also add the expression "por favor" at the beginning or at the end of the sentence for the sake of politeness.

Informal Imperative: You can use affirmative tú commands to tell a friend, family member the same age as you or younger, classmate, child, or pet to do something.

Formal Imperative: In case you are addressing a person you don't know well, a person older than you, or a person to whom you want to show deference or respect. Here the conjugation is with "usted".

You can choose between informal and formal imperative depending on the context and on the relationship you have with the other person. Here are  the examples of both of them:

Informal Imperative

1- Por favor, levanta la ropa de la soga.

Pick up the clothes from the rope, please.

2- Por favor, ve al supermercado y compra algo de pan.

Go to the supermarket and buy some bread, please.

3- Por favor, corta las verduras que están en la heladera.

Chop the vegetables that are in the fridge, please.

4- Si alguien llama, no atiendas el teléfono.

If somebody calls, do not answer the phone.

5- No prendas el horno, prefiero que uses la hornalla para cocinar.

Do not turn the oven on. I prefer you to cook in the stovetop.

Formal Imperative:

1- Por favor, levante la ropa de la soga.

Pick up the clothes from the rope, please.

2- Por favor, vaya al supermercado y compre algo de pan.

Go to the supermarket and buy some bread, please.

3- Por favor, corte las verduras que están en la heladera.

Chop the vegetables that are in the fridge, please.

4- Si alguien llama, no atienda el teléfono.

If somebody calls, do not answer the phone.

5- No prenda el horno, prefiero que use la hornalla para cocinar.

Do not turn the oven on. I prefer you to cook in the stovetop.

1, 2, 3 are affirmative commands, whereas 4, 5 are negative commands. Pay attention to the difference in the verb forms. The negative imperative is formed differently than the affirmative informal imperative, here is what each of these command forms looks like.

Affirmative  Command

Compra/Compre el pan.

Buy some bread.

Negative  Command

No compres/ no compre el pan.

Don’t buy any bread.

Answer 2

1. Por favor, lava mi ropa.

2. Por favor, hazme la comida.

3. Por favor, limpie el piso.

4. Por favor, lava el perro.

5. Por favor, venga esta semana.