French imperatives: giving instructions
French has a special verb form for instructions: the imperative. This lesson teaches you how to recognize and use French imperatives so you can follow directions and give them yourself.
What the imperative does
The imperative tells someone to do something:
Écoute.
Listen.
Écoutez.
Listen.
Écoutons.
Let’s listen.
For beginners, focus on the first two: informal tuyou (informal)-style and polite/plural vousyou (formal/plural)-style.
Easy patterns with -er verbs
Many common instruction verbs are -er-er verb ending verbs. A useful shortcut:
- tu-form: like present tense, but usually without final -sfinal -s (écoutelisten, regardelook, respirebreathe)
- vous-form: ends in -ez-ez ending (écoutezlisten, regardezlook, respirezbreathe)
Examples you can reuse:
Respire doucement.
Breathe gently.
Respirez doucement.
Breathe gently.
Regarde ici.
Look here.
Regardez ici.
Look here.
Écoute bien.
Listen carefully.
Écoutez bien.
Listen carefully.
Répète après moi.
Repeat after me.
Répétez après moi.
Repeat after me.
How tone changes around the same form
The imperative ending stays the same; extra wording changes how strong it feels:
Arrête !
Stop!
Arrêtez-vous un moment.
Pause for a moment.
Respirez calmement.
Breathe calmly.
Manner words help: doucementgently, lentementslowly, bienwell / carefully.
Pronouns with imperatives
Affirmative imperatives often attach pronouns with a hyphen:
Assieds-toi.
Sit down.
Asseyez-vous.
Sit down.
Calme-toi.
Calm down.
Calmez-vous.
Calm down.
Regarde-moi.
Look at me.
Regardez-moi.
Look at me.
Negative imperatives put ne… pasnot around the verb and usually keep pronouns before the verb:
Ne te précipite pas.
Don’t rush.
Ne vous précipitez pas.
Don’t rush.
Useful beginner instruction set
Assieds-toi / Asseyez-vous.
Sit down.
Ferme les yeux.
Close your eyes.
Fermez les yeux.
Close your eyes.
Ouvre la main.
Open your hand.
Ouvrez la main.
Open your hand.
Remercie ce moment.
Give thanks for this moment.
Remerciez ce moment.
Give thanks for this moment.
Reviens à ta respiration.
Return to your breath.
Revenez à votre respiration.
Return to your breath.
Sentez la gratitude.
Feel the gratitude.
Reste ici un instant.
Stay here a moment.
Tip: learn each pair as a mini unit (tuinformal you / vousformal/plural you).
Build a short sequence
Put instructions in a natural order. Example (vousformal/plural you):
Asseyez-vous confortablement.
Sit comfortably.
Fermez les yeux.
Close your eyes.
Respirez doucement.
Breathe gently.
Remerciez ce moment.
Give thanks for this moment.
Saying a sequence trains rhythm and memory better than isolated verbs.
Common mistakes
- Keeping the -sfinal -s on most -er-er tu-imperatives: écouteslisten (wrong here) ❌ → écoutelisten ✅
- Mixing formal and informal in one short instruction set
- Awkward “please” placement — s’il te plaîtplease (informal) / s’il vous plaîtplease (formal) usually comes at the end
- Forgetting hyphens in affirmative forms: asseyez voussit (missing hyphen) ❌ → asseyez-voussit down ✅
Mini practice
- Write 4 instructions in the vousformal/plural you form (breathe, look, listen, thank).
- Rewrite the same 4 in the tuinformal you form.
- Say each pair slowly, twice.
- Add one adverb (doucementgently or lentementslowly) to two of them.
- Turn your four lines into one short sequence.
When you finish, you should be able to give a short instruction sequence in French without translating word by word.
Want to hear this in context?
These examples were drawn from the CalmLingo meditation Méditation de gratitude pour débutants (Gratitude Meditation for Beginners). If you’d like to practice by listening, open it in the app.
