The imperative form of French expresses commands, makes polite requests or suggests ideas. Imperative, which translates to French as "impératif," is typically formed using the present tense of verbs and three different pronouns: tu (you, singular), nous (we, us), and vous (you, plural).

How to Learn French Imperative:

Construct verbs in the imperative mood by first conjugating a few regular verbs that end in -ER. For instance, take the verb danser (to dance). The three present, or indicative, forms of danser are: tu danses (you dance, singular), nous dansons (we dance) and vous dansez (you dance, plural). For the imperative, drop the pronoun and, for the singular form of you, drop the final s. The resulting imperative verbs are: danse (dance), dansons (let's dance), and dansez (dance).

Conjugate verbs that end in -RE and -IR differently than -ER verbs. Note that imperative forms of -IR verbs do not require the final s in the "tu" form be dropped. For example, relevant present forms of boire (to drink) are: tu bois (you drink), nous buvons (we drink) and vous buvez (you drink). The imperatives then become: bois (drink), buvons (let's drink), and buvez (drink). Conjugate the present of tenir as tu tiens (you hold), nous tenons (we hold), and vous tenez (you hold). Therefore, the imperatives of tenir are: tiens (hold, take), tenons (let's hold, take), and tenez (hold, take).

Create a list of several irregular verbs by referring to a site such as French Linguistics. The regular indicative present tense is not used for the common irregular verbs avoir (to have) and être (to be). For avoir, the three forms for tu, nous, and vous respectively are: aie (have), ayons (let's have), and ayez (have, plural). The three forms for the verb être are: sois, soyons, soyez. If you add these forms with nouns, you end with: aie la patience (have patience), ayons la patience (let's have patience), and ayez la patience (have patience).

Formulate negative imperative statements by placing "ne" and "pas" around the verb. Take, as practice, the verb manger (to eat): Ne mange pas (Don't eat). Another example using a different verb, aller (to go): Ne va pas au cinéma (Don't go to the cinema).

Connect reflexive pronouns and stressed pronouns to verbs using hyphens. Reflexive verbs for the imperative mood take moi instead of me and toi instead of te. For instance, present indicative form of tu te lèves (you get up) becomes lève-toi (get up) in the imperative. Tu me dis (you tell me), similarly in present tense, becomes dis-moi (tell me) in the imperative.