Non lavarti le mani! (Don't wash your hands!) – Forming negative imperatives with pronouns and regular verbs
Reminder: we make the imperative forms of reflexive verbs by adding the corresponding pronoun, either before or after the verb, depending on the person.
Allacciati le scarpe! allacciarsi, imperativo presente
Tie your shoes! (literally “Tie to yourself the shoes!” – informal “you”)
Si allacci le scarpe! allacciarsi, imperativo presente
Tie your shoes! (literally “Tie to yourself the shoes!” – formal “you”)
We conjugate the negative imperative forms of reflexive verbs, such as alzarsi (to get up), vestirsi (to get dressed), etc., as follows:
- With tu (you) we follow one of two structures: (1) non + infinitive form of the verb minus the final e + ti Pronomi riflessivi, forming one word; or (2) non + ti Pronomi riflessivi + full infinitive form (with the -e),
Non alzarti troppo tardi! alzarsi, imperativo negativo
Don't get up too late!
Non ti alzare troppo tardi! alzarsi, imperativo negativo
Don't get up too late!
- With lei (formal “you”), we follow this structure: non + si Pronomi riflessivi + imperative form of the verb.
Non si fermi qui, è pericoloso! fermarsi, imperativo negativo
Don't stop here - it's dangerous!
- With noi (we) and voi (plural, informal “you”) we follow this structure: non + imperative form of the verb + corresponding pronoun Pronomi riflessivi.
Non toglietevi le scarpe! togliersi, imperativo negativo
Don't take off your shoes!
Non prepariamoci subito per partire!prepararsi, imperativo negativo
Let's not get ready to leave just yet!
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