Imperatives

The imperative form of a verb, as the name suggests, 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 (for plural audience only)

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

For some verbs whose first vowel is an “o”, 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 two verbs “بودن” (“to be”) and “داشتن”(“to have”) are exceptional in how their imperative forms are created.

As you can see, the verb "to be" does not use the prefix in its imperative forms. Moreover, note that the shape of the present stem (which is only used imperatives and subjunctives in this verb) does not look anything like the infinitive of the verb).

The difference in the conjugation pattern is more dramatic for the verb “داشتن” (“to have”):

Another group of exceptions is the class of compound verbs whose verbal part is “کردن” (“to do”) or “شدن” (“to become”). 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 of different kinds.

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 considered separate simple verbs almost only when they receive stress. This is the only way they can come with the “بـ” prefix.

The rules stated above about imperatives are important because they come handy in the conjugation of the present subjunctive as well. You might find the following useful for deciding where to use the “بـ” suffix.