Imperative Mood in Russian Verbs

9/7/2021

Besides the basic indicative mood, Russian verbs have imperative (Pick that up!) and subjunctive moods (things that we wish happened or could happen under some other circumstances). Today's topic is imperative forms.

The imperative form is pretty straightforward to derive: add the suffix -и to the base of the future tense form of the verb. To form plural add ending -те to the singular imperative form. For example спать (to sleep) --> спи --> спите, сказать (to say, to tell) --> скажи --> скажите.

Another way to form the imperative form is to add one of these particles: пусть, пускай or да. For example "Да скажи ты ей где мой телефон".