Quick answer
¡Habla! · ¡No hables!
The affirmative tú command looks like the él form. The negative one borrows a different set of endings entirely.
Positive and negative differ
| Verb | ¡tú! | ¡no tú! | ¡usted! |
|---|---|---|---|
| hablar | habla | no hables | hable |
| comer | come | no comas | coma |
| escribir | escribe | no escribas | escriba |
Notice the vowel swap in the negative and the usted form: -ar verbs take e, -er and -ir verbs take a.
Eight irregular tú commands
All positive only; their negatives are regular.
| Verb | ¡tú! |
|---|---|
| decir | di |
| hacer | haz |
| ir | ve |
| poner | pon |
| salir | sal |
| ser | sé |
| tener | ten |
| venir | ven |
Where pronouns go
Attached to the end of a positive command, in front of a negative one. Attaching often adds a written accent to keep the stress.
Memory trick
Positive tú: use the él form. Negative tú: flip the vowel and add -s. They are two different verbs in your mouth.
Typical mistakes
No habla tan rápido.
No hables tan rápido.
The positive form cannot simply be negated. Negative commands need the flipped vowel.
No dime nada.
No me digas nada.
In a negative command the pronoun comes before the verb, never attached.
Hace la cama.
Haz la cama.
Hacer has an irregular command, haz. Hace is the statement "he does".
Check yourself
¡No ___ la puerta! (abrir, tú)