Table of Contents
What Is the Command Form?
The command form is used to express a command or an order in the same way you would say "stop!" or "sit down!" in English. It is often compared to the imperative form 〜なさい. Depending on which of these two verb forms you use, you will convey very different feelings. For example, to command someone to "eat!" you have different choices:
- 食べなさい。
食べろ。 - Eat!
Using 〜なさい, the first sentence feels polite even though it's a command. But if you choose to use the command form and say 食べろ, your speech sounds much stronger and more abrupt.
In this post, we'll focus on how to conjugate verbs into the command form. If you are looking for more details about its meanings and functions, you can check out the use page for the command form. And if you want to be more polite with your commands, you can read all about the imperative with 〜なさい.
The command form conjugates differently depending on the type of verbs you use.
| Godan | 会う → 会え
立つ → 立て 変わる → 変われ 書く → 書け 泳ぐ → 泳げ 死ぬ → 死ね 遊ぶ → 遊べ 休む → 休め |
| Ichidan | 食べる → 食べろ
起きる → 起きろ 閉じる → 閉じろ |
| Irregular | 来る → 来い
する → しろ くれる → くれ |
Godan Verbs
For godan verbs, you first need to look at the dictionary form of the verb, which always ends in hiragana from the う line, like 会う and 行く. Then switch that う-line hiragana to its equivalent from the え line.
会
う+ え = 会え
立つ+ て = 立て
Ichidan Verbs
For ichidan verbs, you simply remove the 〜る from the dictionary form and add 〜ろ:
食べ
る+ ろ = 食べろ
見る+ ろ = 見ろ
Irregular verbs
There are only three irregular verbs when it comes to the command form. The first two are always irregular, and the whole verb changes, so these just need to be memorized:
来る → 来い
する → しろ
The ichidan verb くれる is also irregular in this form. Instead of becoming くれろ as you might expect, it actually just loses the 〜る ending and becomes くれ:
くれる → くれ