Imperatives

After Let’s, use the base verb without to: go, eat, be, start. The form does not change according to person or number.

The apostrophe is part of the contraction Let’s. Lets without an apostrophe has a different grammatical meaning: lets is the form of the verb let used with he, she or it.

To suggest not doing something, put not immediately after Let’s: Let’s not rush. This is a shared decision to refrain from an action.

British English also allows Don’t let’s + base verb. It is less common; Let’s not is the simplest choice for neutral modern language.

Let’s check the map suggests checking it together. Let me check the map means that only the speaker will check it, often as an offer to help. Check the map is a direct instruction to the listener.

The same base verb can therefore refer to different people performing the action. Look at Let’s, me, or the absence of these words, rather than only at the verb itself.

Let us can be a very formal version of a joint suggestion: Let us begin. In that meaning, the conversational Let’s begin is natural, although the register changes.

However, let us can also literally ask for permission: Please let us leave. Here let is the ordinary verb meaning “allow”, and us is its object. Contracting it to Please let’s leave changes the meaning to a joint suggestion and does not convey the permission request.

Lets without an apostrophe is also an ordinary verb: This ticket lets us enter means the ticket allows us to enter.

After a suggestion with Let’s, you can add the short tag shall we?: Let’s start, shall we? It invites the listener to confirm or discuss the suggestion.

The answer need not repeat Let’s. Good idea, Sure or Sorry, I can’t can all be complete, appropriate responses. Declining a suggestion is not itself a grammatical error.

First decide who will perform the action. If it is the speaker together with the listener, Let’s is usually appropriate. Then choose a positive or negative form and add the base verb.

The suggestion must fit the situation. A grammatical Let’s open the window does not fulfil a task in which the speakers are arranging a meeting time.

For an ordinary short instruction, use the dictionary form of the verb: wait, read, take. Do not add -s, -ed or to before the target verb. The form does not change when you address several people instead of one.

After the verb, add only the necessary details: what to do, where or when. A short imperative can consist of one word. In combinations such as turn off, the particle off remains part of the meaning; turn is the base form.

In an affirmative imperative, be also takes its base form. To ask someone to be ready, calm or careful, start with be, not am, is or are. Those finite forms belong to other constructions, such as You are ready.

After be, you can name a desired state with an adjective or specify a place and time. Be at the door at eight. instructs someone to be by the door at eight. Are you at the door? is a grammatical question, but does not give that instruction.

In an ordinary instruction, the listener is understood from the conversation, so you is usually not written. The instruction can address one person, address them politely or address a group. The English verb remains the same in all these cases.

However, a subject is possible. You stay here. can emphasise that this particular person should stay. Everyone take a seat. addresses the whole group; Someone open the window. asks one of those present to act. These are correct imperatives, not errors caused by including a subject. At beginner level, the main pattern is simpler: no explicitly named subject.

Please often softens a direct request. Its usual positions are before the verb or at the end of the sentence; other positions are possible depending on the phrase. Do not treat one order as uniquely correct. A word-order task may specify the position only to constrain that particular exercise.

Politeness also depends on intonation, relationships and the situation. Adding please alone does not automatically make a harsh request tactful. Equally, a simple recipe instruction or friendly invitation is not necessarily rude without it.

Sometimes an emphatic do precedes the base form: Do come in. This is a correct way to reinforce an invitation, often with a more formal or particularly welcoming tone. Do is not a required part of an ordinary affirmative imperative.

Several simple instructions can be given in separate sentences or joined with and. If the order matters, first and then help. Every verb in an affirmative imperative stays in its base form. The situation determines the sequence of actions, not the mere presence of imperative sentences.

Distinguish an affirmative instruction from a prohibition and a joint suggestion. Open the box. asks the recipient to open it; Don’t open the box. prohibits it; Let’s open the box. suggests doing it together. All three sentences are grammatical, but perform different functions. Here we mainly practise the first.

For your own answer, choose an action, add the necessary object or place and check the verb form. The model shows one way to say it; a natural synonym, another suitable position of please or a full stop instead of an exclamation mark is not by itself an error.

Take the simple verb form: go, open, touch, wait. Put don’t before it. Do not add to or the endings -s or -ing to this verb.

In this ordinary English instruction, a separate Not before the verb is not the way to express negation.

For a state or behaviour, use don’t be. After don’t, the required form is be, not am, is or are.

An adjective does not replace a verb: be is needed between don’t and late, afraid or rude. Rude means impolite or offensive in behaviour.

Don’t is a contraction of do not. The contracted form is common in conversation; the full form often appears in official instructions and notices.

The full form does not make a sentence more grammatical, nor does the contraction make it incorrect. If an exercise asks for one form, that is an exercise condition, not a ban on the other form in the language.

An imperative is not always a strict order. Don’t worry can reassure, and Don’t forget can remind. Context indicates the intention.

Please helps soften a request. It can come at the beginning or end; it need not be added to every sentence. A short direct utterance is natural for an urgent warning. Tone of voice and the relationship between people matter too.

Don’t + verb is the main pattern in this lesson, but not the only way to express English negation. Never + base verb extends the prohibition to every occasion. No smoking and No parking use another construction: No + -ing form.

The subject is normally unexpressed in a simple imperative. However, Nobody move! and Don’t you worry! are possible constructions, not automatic errors.

Fear not! is a literary or solemn expression meaning “do not be afraid”. For ordinary conversation, we practise Don’t be afraid here. Do not transfer the word order of a rare expression to every verb.