The imperative form of a verb is used for giving commands. It is made up of three parts:

1. The prefix “بـِ” (pronounced like “be” in “bed”)

2. The present stem of the verb

3. The imperative suffix (plural only)

Here is an example for the verb “to sit”:

If the first vowel of the present stem of the verb has an “o” sound, the prefix changes into “بُـ” (pronounced like “bo” in “bold”).

The negative imperative structure is exactly like the normal imperative, except that the suffix preceding the verb is “نـَ” (pronounced like “na” in “narrow”).

The imperative forms of the two verbs “بودن” (“to be”) and “داشتن”(“to have”) follow different rules.

As you see, the only difference was that the prefix was omitted. The difference is more dramatic for the verb “داشتن” (“to have”):

Another group of exceptions is the class of combined verbs whose verbal part is “کردن” (“to do”), “شدن” (“to become”), or “داشتن” (“to have"). For these verbs, like the verb “to be”, the prefix “بـِ” is omitted. Here are some examples:

For all these exceptional verbs, the negative imperative is obtained by simply adding the “نـَ” prefix to them and omitting nothing.

Here is a set of examples containing instances of some different cases.

About the last group of exceptions, it should be added that the verbs “کردن” and “شدن” must always be considered as part of a compound verb:

They are only considered separate simple verbs when there is no noun in the sentence that could possibly be part of a combined verb. This is the only way they can come with the “بـ” prefix.

It is important to learn the imperative correctly since its structure is also used in conjugating verbs of the present subjunctive tense. The following table might be helpful for knowing where to use the “بـ” suffix in imperatives.