When you are talking to one or more people and want to command one or more other people to do something, you use the third person imperatives (English "let him/her/it/them..."). To express these imperatives, you use нека followed by a main verb with third person singular or plural present tense endings. For example:
- Нека зборува! 'Let him/her/it talk!' (i.e. He/she/it should talk)
- Нека научат! 'Let them learn!' (i.e. They should learn)
- Нека се измие! 'Let him/her/it wash up!' (i.e. He/she/it should wash up)
- Нека не разговараат! 'Let them not discuss/talk.' (i.e. They shouldn't discuss/talk)
- Нека не се бричат! 'Let them not shave!' (i.e. They shouldn't shave)
Note the position of the не and се relative to нека, each other, and the main verb.
When you want to include yourself in the command, such as in English "let's," in Macedonian we use ајде да followed by a main verb in the first person plural. For example:
- Ајде да одиме! "Let's go!"
- Ајде да се одмориме! "Let's rest!"
- Ајде да не учиме! "Let's not study!"
- Ајде да не се враќаме! "Let's not go back!"
Note the position of the не and се relative to ајде да, each other, and the main verb.
A third construction can also express commands to any of the persons: I, you (singular), he, she, it, we, you (plural), they. This construction is да followed by a verb with present tense endings and means "may I/you/he/she/it/we/you/they" in the context of wishes and curses. For example:
- Да имаш здравје и среќа! "May you have health and happiness!"
- Да живее! "May he/she/it live!" (i.e. hurray for him/her/it)
- Да сме живи и здрави! "May we be alive and healthy!" (i.e. in a conversation about an event in the future, may we live to see it)
- Да славите уште многу години! "May you celebrate for many more years!"
Some of these same sentiments can also be expressed with the two previous constructions (using нека or ајде да).
As you can see in the examples, both imperfective and perfective verbs can be used, depending on the speaker's focus.