Comer in the Imperative Mood / Tense
Name In Spanish: Imperativo
The imperative tense, often referred to as the imperative mood, is a simple and straightforward command or order, often using only one word. The imperative is mainly used in a way that may sound rude to the ears of the native English speaker, so you'll often hear the overuse of "por favor" or "gracias" from somebody new to the language to make it sound more polite when, in reality, it's not strictly necessary. It's also for this reason that Spanish speakers may come across as being rude when making a request, so it's important to keep this in mind when using the imperative. Internation and context are everything when using this mood.
When to use this tense with comer
Direct orders or instructions:
Come tus verduras antes de salir a jugar.
Polite requests or suggestions:
Come algo ligero antes de la reunión.
Come un poco más despacio, por favor.
Expression of wishes or invitations:
¡Come con nosotros hoy!
Come lo que quieras, la comida está lista.
Tips or recommendations:
Come frutas y verduras todos los días.
Come regularmente para mantener un equilibrio nutricional.
Read a dialog with comer in the Imperative Tense
Even though the imperative is a very easy mood for English speakers to understand from a grammatical standpoint, it's still beneficial to see it used in a dialog to help you automatically be able to conjugate it without having to try and remember which specific ending and form to use, especially since the imperative is formed differently from the negative imperative, with the latter using the present subjunctive.
Mini Dialog for the Tense
En casa, un Padre y sus dos hijos.
At home, a father and his two children.
Padre: ¡Comed ya! que se hace tarde y no llegamos puntuales al teatro.
Eat now! It's getting late and we won't get to the theatre on time.
Hijo 1: Pero papá, estoy terminando la partida.
But Dad, I'm finishing the game.
Padre: Me da igual. Come o te quito la tablet.
I don't care. Eat or I'll take your tablet away.
Hijo 2: Comamos antes de que papá se enfade.
Let's eat before dad gets angry.
Conjugation chart for comer in the Imperative tense
See the table below for all the ways you can conjugate comer in the imperative. You can visit our main charts and tables page to see all the conjugations for 'comer'. You can see that there are no conjugations for the pronouns 'yo', 'el/ella', 'ellos / ellas', as the command is always given as a 'you', even when commanding oneself to do something; in this case the tú form is used. The exception to this rule is for 'we' commands, e.g. Let's eat! (¡Comamos!)
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | ||
| tú | ¡Come! | (you) Eat! |
| vos | ¡Comé! | (voseo) Eat! |
| usted | ¡Coma! | (formal - you) Eat! |
| él / ella | ||
| nosotros / nosotras | ¡Comamos! | Let's Eat! |
| vosotros / vosotras | ¡Comed! | (you all) Eat! |
| ustedes | ¡Coman! | (formal - you all) Eat! |
| ellos / ellas |