Imperative (Commands)
आदेशसूचक (Imperative)
English has one command form no matter who you're talking to. German has three, just like Hindi's three levels तू/तुम/आप — matching du, ihr, and Sie.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Three imperative forms, matching du/ihr/Sie — like Hindi's तू/तुम/आप
Komm! (du) / Kommt! (ihr) / Kommen Sie! (Sie)
आ! / आओ! / आइए!
Hindi also has three command levels: "आ!" (तू, most informal), "आओ!" (तुम), "आइए!" (आप, formal) — matching German's three-tier du/ihr/Sie distinction exactly. In German: du → drop the -st and usually the final -e (komm), ihr → identical to the present-tense ihr form (kommt), Sie → invert verb-Sie (kommen Sie), keeping the polite pronoun visible — unlike the other two forms, which drop the pronoun entirely.
du-imperative: e→i/ie verbs also shift; a→ä verbs don't
du isst → Iss! ; du siehst → Sieh! ; du fährst → Fahr! (no umlaut in the du-imperative)
खा! देख! चला!
Strong verbs that shift e→i or e→ie in the present tense (essen → isst, sehen → siehst) carry that shift into the du-imperative too (Iss!, Sieh!). But verbs that shift a→ä (fahren → du fährst) don't carry the umlaut into the imperative — Fahr!, not Fähr!. Hindi makes no such distinction, so this is worth memorizing carefully — it's a common source of mistakes.
sein has its own unique imperative
Sei ruhig! (du) / Seid ruhig! (ihr) / Seien Sie ruhig! (Sie) — Be quiet!
चुप रह! / चुप रहो! / चुप रहिए!
sein's imperative doesn't follow the normal pattern at all (you might expect a bist-based form) — sei, seid, and seien Sie simply have to be memorized, much like Hindi's 'हो' verb also behaves differently from regular verbs.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Komm! | kom | आ! (du)ā! | Come! (du) |
| Kommt! | komt | आओ! (ihr)āo! | Come! (ihr) |
| Kommen Sie! | KOM-en zee | आइए! (Sie, औपचारिक)āie! | Come! (Sie, formal) |
| Sei ruhig! | zy ROO-ikh | चुप रह! (du)cup rah! | Be quiet! (du) |
| Seid ruhig! | zyt ROO-ikh | चुप रहो! (ihr)cup raho! | Be quiet! (ihr) |
| Seien Sie ruhig! | ZY-en zee ROO-ikh | चुप रहिए! (Sie, औपचारिक)cup rahie! | Be quiet! (Sie, formal) |
| Iss! | is | खा! (du)khā! | Eat! (du) |
| Sieh! | zee | देख! (du)dekh! | Look! / See! (du) |
| Fahr vorsichtig! | fahr FOR-zikh-tikh | ध्यान से चला! (du)dhyān se calā! | Drive carefully! (du) |
| Geh! | gay | जा! (du)jā! | Go! (du) |
| Hilf mir! | hilf meer | मेरी मदद कर! (du)merī madad kar! | Help me! (du) |
| Machen Sie das bitte! | MAHKH-en zee dahs BIT-eh | कृपया यह कीजिए। (Sie, औपचारिक)kṛpayā yah kījie | Please do that. (Sie, formal) |