When you want to command someone (you or you all) to do something or not to do something, you use the second person imperatives. To express these imperatives, you have to know which group (-a, -e or -и) the verb belongs to, and for the latter two groups, whether the letter/sound before last is a vowel or consonant. Based on this information, you follow the rules from the table below:
| if the dictionary form ends in: |
and you are commanding one person |
and you are commanding more than one person or one person respectfully |
|
-a
|
add ј
for example: зборувај, "talk"
|
add јте
for example: зборувајте, "talk"
|
| vowel-e or vowel-и |
remove final letter and add j
for example: пиј, "drink"
|
remove final letter and add јте
for example: пијте, "drink"
|
| consonant-e or consonant-и |
remove final letter and add и
for example: вози, "drive"
|
remove final letter and add ете
for example: возете, "drive"
|
Two exceptions are:
-
- даде (perfective of дава - give), which forms the imperative дај, дајте
- ела, елате - come, come here - which only exists in Macedonian as an imperative and is a borrowing from Greek
Negation is formed by:
-
- either adding не in front of the imperative, for example: не зборувај, не зборувајте "don't talk" (singular, plural)
- or with the construction немој да/немојте да plus present tense (or to be + l-form, which you will learn in Unit 5), for example: немој да зборуваш, немојте да зборувате "don't talk" (singular, plural)
The order of the reflexive "се" is different with imperatives than with present and future tense. Compare:
-
- present: Се туширам, "I'm taking a shower"
- future: Ќе се туширам, "I will be taking a shower"
- imperative: Туширај се! "Take a shower!"
- negated imperative 1: Не се туширај! "Don't take a shower!"
- negated imperative 2: Немој да се тушираш! "Don't take a shower!"
With imperatives, both imperfective and perfective verbs can be used, depending on the speaker's focus. With the negated imperatives, imperfectives are more common. The construction не + perfective verb is very rare, and denotes a threat. Even if you want to command someone not to do something one time or for a short time (for which you would normally use a perfective verb), it is better to use an imperfective one with a negated imperative. Only if you want to focus on finishing the action through to the end is it acceptable to use a perfective verb with the немој да/немојте да imperative.