Imperative
The imperative form is used for giving commands (telling people to do things).
There are two forms of the imperative:
- Imperfective Imperative
- Perfective Imperative
Imperfective Imperative
The imperfective imperative is used when you want to tell someone to something repeatedly, in general, or if you're wanting them to get going on action that will be ongoing. It's used for giving commands in the imperfective aspect. It's also used when you want to emphasize the firmness or certainty of a command, regardless of aspect.
| Pers. | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | تهلیکه tuleeká You write! (command) | تاسېلیکئ táaseleekéy You (pl.) write! (command) |
Perfective Imperative
The perfective imperative is used when you want to tell someone to do something is a one time, complete action. You are not thinking of the action as a process or as something that will be repeated, you are just telling the person to get the action done.
| Pers. | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | تهولیکه tuóoleeka You write! (command) | تاسېولیکئ táaseóoleekey You (pl.) write! (command) |
Using Imperatives
For Pashto learners, having a choice between the perfective and imperfective imperatives is not something we are accustomed to. And so, it takes a lot of time to get used to the difference, and to choose the right form while speaking.
Imperfective w/ imperfective stem | Perfective w/ perfective stem |
|---|---|
وریژې خوره wreejze khorá Eat rice (in general, it's good for you) | وریژې وخوره wreejze óokhora Eat rice (one time) |
د کلي عکسونه راته لېږه! du kulee aksoona raa-ta leGá! Send me pictures of the village! (send me pictures every once and awhile) | د کلي عکسونه راته ولېږه! du kulee aksoona raa-ta óoleGa! Send me pictures of the village! (send me a bunch of pictures in one clump, at one time) |
تاسو هلته کېنئ taaso halta kenéy You sit there (in general, whenever you come) | تاسو هلته کېنئ taaso halta kéney You sit there (one time, in one instance sit) |
Notice how the in the perfective form the accent is always on the front because it's based on the perfective stem
Singular and Plural
You will notice there are only two imperative endings:
- ـه - -a - used for addressing a singular 2nd person ته - tu (you)
- ـئ - -ey - used for addressing a plural 2nd person تاسو - taaso (you), either because you're talking to a group of people, or you're being extra respectful with one person.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
ته راځه! tu raadzá! You come! | تاسو راځئ! taaso radzéy! You (pl.) come! |
🎮 Write the imperative verb (one)
Write the imperfective imperative or perfective imperative verb to complete the phrase
🎮 Write the imperative verb (mix)
Write the imperfective imperative or perfective imperative verb to complete the phrase
Using the Imperfective Imperative for Emphasis
You might remember that we can use the imperfective future to emphasize the certainty of something happen, like saying that something will definately happen, regardless of aspect.
In the same way, we can use the imperfective imperative to make a command more forceful and certain, kind of saying "definately make sure you do this!"
Negative Imperatives
In the negative form of commands (ie. "Don't ____"), the aspect choice dissapears. There is no imperfective/perfective option with negative imperatives, there's only one form.
With this form, you can't specify whether you're talking about about the action in a perfective or imperfective way. You're just saying "don't do it!", either one time or in general.
Just like with the negative particle نه - nú that we used with other verb forms, the negative مه - mú marker also takes over the accent of the verb.