How to form and use the imperative mood in Russian?

The imperative mood in Russian is a group of verb forms that are used to give orders and instructions, to demand, ask, warn, request, recommend, or suggest that somebody does or does not do something. Because of this large range of meanings, verbs in the imperative mood are very common in Russian. Here are a few examples:

• Стой!

  Transcription: stoy!

  Translation: Stop!
• Скажите, пожалуйста, где кабинет директора?

  Transcription: skaZHYti paZHAlasta gdye kabiNYET diRYEKtara?

  Translation: Tell me, please, where the director’s office is?
• Добавьте соль и сахар по вкусу.

  Transcription: daBAFti sol i SAkhar pa FKOOsoo.

  Translation: Add salt and sugar to taste.
• Давайте перенесём встречу.

  Transcription: daVAYti piriniSYOM FSTRYEchoo.

  Translation: Let’s reschedule our meeting.

You might have heard that Russians are quite direct — well, that’s partly due to the fact that we use the imperative mood where English speakers wouldn’t. For example, in Russian you may turn an order into a polite request just by adding пожалуйста (transcribed paZHAlasta, meaning “please”). While it sounds perfectly fine in Russian, in English it may come across as uncivil, so if a Russian approaches you in the street with “Tell me, please, …” or “Take a photo of us, please!,” they are actually trying to be a lot more polite than they sound!

This post will walk you through the forms of the imperative mood and all its diverse uses. Follow me!

Verbs in the imperative mood show that the speaker is trying to cause somebody to perform or not to perform a certain action. There are a few different ways to form imperatives though.

• Singular vs. plural → Use a singular imperative to command one person and a plural one to command many people (or one person in a formal setting).

• Perfective vs. imperfective → Generally, you’ll use a perfective command for a one-time action that needs to be completed, and an imperfective command for a long-term, continuing, or repeated action. Compare:

  perfective imperative

  Проверь зрение!

  Transcription: praVYER ZRYEniye

  Translation: Get an eye exam!

  Literally: lit. Check your vision!

  imperfective imperative

  Проверяйте зрение регулярно!

  Transcription: praviRYAYti ZRYEniye rigooLYARna

  Translation: Get an eye exam regularly!

  Literally: lit. Check your vision regularly!

• “You” vs. “we” vs. “he, she, it, they” imperatives:

  • A standard “you” imperative is given to the person or people you’re talking to:

    • Смотри!

      Transcription: smatREE

      Translation: Look!
    • Продолжайте, пожалуйста!

      Transcription: pradalZHAYti paZHAlasta

      Translation: Go on, please!

  • “We” imperatives suggest an action you will do together with others:

    • Давай сходим в ресторан!

      Transcription: daVAY SKHOdim v ristaRAN

      Translation: Let’s go to a restaurant!
    • Пошли гулять!

      Transcription: paSHLEE gooLYAT

      Translation: Let’s go for a walk!

  • “He, she, it, they” imperatives convey that someone not present needs to do something:

    • Пусть Вася придёт пораньше.

      Transcription: poost VAsya priDYOT paRANshe

      Translation: Tell Vasya to come early.

      Literally: lit. Let Vasya come early.
    • Пускай они сами за себя платят!

      Transcription: poosKAY aNEE SAmi za siBYA PLAtyat

      Translation: They should pay for themselves!

      Literally: lit. Let them pay for themselves!

Let’s take a closer look at each of these categories.

In Russian, a “you” imperative is used to give a command directly to the person or people you are speaking to. These have a singular form (to command one person) and a plural form (to command more than one person).

“You” imperatives are the only forms of the imperative in Russian that actually have the imperative as their primary meaning and function. In other words, other forms of the imperative, which we will look at below, have other meanings and uses, but may also function as imperatives as well.

The Russian imperative for “we” is a rough equivalent of the English structure beginning with “let’s” — it’s used when the speaker is suggesting to do something together with someone else.

The key to forming the “we” imperative in Russian is the particle давай/давайте (transcribed daVAY/daVAYti, meaning “let’s”), which is actually the imperative from the verb давать (transcribed daVAT, meaning “to give”), but which has lost its direct meaning in this structure over time.

This particle is combined with a verb to create the imperative meaning.

• The singular form, давай, is used when the speaker is inviting one person to join an action.

• We use the plural/polite form, давайте, to invite more than one person to start or join some activity, or to invite a single person, if the person has higher status or is older than the speaker.

The verb after the particle can take one of the following two forms:

• Infinitive of an imperfective verb

  This combination sounds like an invitation to a lasting action, for example:

  • Давайте репетировать!

    Transcription: daVAYti ripiTEEravat!

    Translation: Let’s practice/rehearse!
  • Давай бегать по утрам!

    Transcription: daVAY BYEgat pa ootRAM!

    Translation: Let’s start jogging in the mornings!

• Third person plural, or “we” form of perfective verbs in future tense

  This combination is used to suggest completing some action together, for example:

  • Давай сходим в кино!

    Transcription: daVAYti SKHOdim f kiNO!

    Translation: Let’s go to a movie!
  • Давайте сделаем перерыв!

    Transcription: daVAYti ZDYElayem piriRYV!

    Translation: Let’s take a break!

To suggest NOT doing something together, you need to add не будем (transcribed ni BOOdim, meaning “we will not”) after the particle давай(те), followed by the infinitive of the verb:

• Давай не будем ругаться!

  Transcription: daVAY ni BOOdim rooGAtsa!

  Translation: Let’s not have an argument!
• Давайте не будем менять правила.

  Transcription: daVAYti ni BOOdim miNYAT PRAvila.

  Translation: Let’s not change the rules.

Sometimes the particle давай(те) might be omitted, and what comes after it (“we” form of perfective verbs in future tense or не будем followed by the infinitive of the verb) functions as “we” imperative by itself:

In Russian, we use the imperative for “he/she/it/they” (also called the “third person imperative”) to inform the person we are talking to that we want someone else to do something. Sentences with this kind of imperative are a bit tricky to translate into English. They are most similar in meaning to English structures “have someone do something,” “tell someone to do something,” or “allow someone to do something.”

To form the third person imperative, you’ll need to follow this structure:

The “he/she/it/they” imperative is rarely negative, but if you do want to say that someone shouldn’t do something, you need to insert не (transcribed nye, meaning “not”) between the person and the verb:

There are three types of imperatives in Russian:

• The “you” imperative has special singular and plural forms. We use it for giving instructions, orders, and warnings, as well as to make requests and suggestions.

• The “we” imperative is formed with the particle давай(те). We use it to suggest doing something together.

• The “he/she/it/they” imperative is formed with the particles пусть/пускай. We use it to say that we want someone else to do something.

Ready to practice? Try out our Russian imperative exercises to test your skills!