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Telling someone not to do something

Positive and negative commands are built differently. Two things change at once: the verb form and the position of any pronouns.

Quick answer

¡No hables! · ¡No lo hagas!

Every negative command uses the subjunctive, and the pronouns move in front of the verb.

No plus the subjunctive

-ar verbs take -e endings, -er and -ir verbs take -a endings. Every person, including tú, uses the subjunctive here.

Personhablarcomer
túno hablesno comas
ustedno hableno coma
nosotrosno hablemosno comamos
vosotrosno habléisno comáis
ustedesno hablenno coman
No hables tan rápido.Do not speak so fast.
No abran la puerta.Do not open the door.

The irregulars come from the yo form

Take the yo form of the present, drop the -o, add the opposite vowel. Only a handful sit outside that rule.

InfinitiveNegative tú
hacer (hago)no hagas
tener (tengo)no tengas
salir (salgo)no salgas
venir (vengo)no vengas
decir (digo)no digas
irno vayas
serno seas
darno des
estarno estés
No seas tan impaciente.Do not be so impatient.
No vayas sin paraguas.Do not go without an umbrella.

Pronouns switch sides

In a positive command pronouns attach to the end. In a negative one they go between no and the verb.

¡Dímelo! — ¡No me lo digas!Tell me! — Do not tell me!
¡Levántate! — ¡No te levantes!Get up! — Do not get up!
¡Cómpralo! — ¡No lo compres!Buy it! — Do not buy it!

Because the pronoun detaches, the written accent of the positive form disappears.

Memory trick

Negative command means no + subjunctive, and the pronouns stand in front. Nothing ever attaches to the end after no.

Typical mistakes

No habla tan alto.

No hables tan alto.

No hablas or no habla is a statement. A command to tú needs the subjunctive form hables.

¡No dímelo!

¡No me lo digas!

With no the pronouns move in front of the verb and the accent goes away.

No te vayas a casa. / No vete a casa.

No te vayas a casa.

Vete is the positive form. The negative takes no te vayas.

Check yourself

___ tan tarde, por favor. (no llegar, tú)

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