Negative Tú Commands

Negative Tú CommandsTo form negative tú commands

with regular verbs, we drop the o of the present-tense yo form and add the following endings:

Negative Tú Commands

HABLARhablo habl es

No hables ahora

Negative Tú Commands

COMERcomo com as

No comas eso.

Negative Tú Commands

ABRIRabro abr as

No abras esa puerta.

Negative Tú CommandsThe same rule applies to verbs

whose present tense yo form ends in –go, -zco, -yo, and –jo.

Negative Tú CommandsSALIRNo salgas si estás enferma.

Negative Tú CommandsOFRECERNo les ofrezcas comida basura

a tus amigos.

Negative Tú CommandsESCOGERNo escojas comida con mucha

grasa.

Negative Tú CommandsNotice that -ar verbs take the

ending -es and that -er verbs take the ending -as.

In stem-changing verbs the stem change remains.

Negative Tú CommandsNo enciendas el horno.No añadas demasiado sal.No pongas los camarones en

la sartén todavía.

Negative Tú CommandsVerbs ending in -car, -gar, and

-zar have the following spelling changes in negative tú commands in order to maintain the original sound.

Negative Tú Commands

TOCAR

toco toqu es

No toques el piano.

-car (c…qu)

Negative Tú Commands

LLEGAR

llego llegu es

No llegues tarde.

-gar (g…gu)

Negative Tú Commands

CRUZAR

cruzo cruc es

No cruces aquí.

-zar (z…c)

Negative Tú Commands

Some verbs, such as ir, ser, dar, and estar have irregular negative tú command forms.

Negative Tú Commands

DarEstarIrSer

No desNo estésNo vayasNo seas

Negative Tú Commands

Remember that pronouns are attached to affirmative commands.

Negative Tú Commands

If the pronoun is added to a command form that has two or more syllables, write an accent mark on the syllable stressed in the present tense.

Negative Tú Commands

¿Pico las cebollas?Sí, pícalas.

Negative Tú Commands

With negative commands, pronouns always go right before the verb.

Negative Tú Commands

¿Pico los tomates también?No, no los piques.