20. Commands and Imperative Mode (El Imperativo)

Part 1: Resource Lesson (Deep Dive Theory)

🎯 Executive Summary & Objectives

Goal: Master the Imperative mode to give direct instructions in README files, CLI outputs, and urgent incident responses without sounding rude or grammatically incorrect.

Engineering Impact: Documentation (READMEs, API docs, CLI tools) heavily relies on imperative commands (e.g., “Run this”, “Install that”). Using the wrong form can make your open-source docs sound unprofessional or confusing to native Spanish speakers.

⚙️ Contrastive Analysis & Theory

The Imperative is used to give commands, instructions, or advice. In Spanish, it changes depending on formality (Tú vs. Usted) and whether the command is affirmative or negative.

1. Affirmative Commands:

   • Tú (Informal - Peers): Same as 3rd person present. (e.g., Habla, Corre, Imprime). Irregulars: Haz (hacer), Pon (poner), Ve (ir/ver), Di (decir).
   • Usted (Formal/Docs): Same as Subjunctive. (e.g., Hable, Corra, Imprima). Used in technical manuals and UI.
   • Nosotros (“Let’s”): Subjunctive. (e.g., Despleguemos, Hagamos).

2. Negative Commands:

   • Always use the Subjunctive for both Tú and Usted.
   • No corras (Tú), No corra (Usted).
   • No borres la base de datos. (Don’t delete the DB).

3. Infinitive as Command: In technical writing (manuals, signs), the infinitive is often used instead of the imperative for general instructions.

   • Hacer clic aquí. (Click here). No apagar. (Do not turn off).

🛠️ Real-World Engineering Context Comparison

Scenario	Junior / Non-Native (Syntax errors)	Senior (B1/B2) (Correct Imperative)	Tech Lead (C1/C2) (Nuanced / Blameless)	LATAM vs Spain Lexical Callouts
README Instructions	Tú instalas las dependencias. (Indicative) / Bạn cài các dependency.	Instale las dependencias con npm. (Usted form) / Hãy cài các dependency bằng npm.	Ejecute el siguiente comando para aprovisionar la infraestructura. / Hãy chạy lệnh sau để cấp phát hạ tầng.	Spain: ficheros. LATAM: archivos.
Urgent Incident	No haces eso! (Indicative) / Đừng làm thế!	¡No hagas eso! (Negative Tú) / Đừng làm thế!	Abstente de ejecutar scripts en producción sin previa autorización. / Hãy hạn chế chạy script trên production mà chưa có ủy quyền.	Spain/LATAM: Abstente (Refrain).
Team Collaboration	Nosotros hacemos un rollback. (Present) / Chúng ta rollback thôi.	Hagamos un rollback. (Nosotros Command) / Hãy rollback đi.	Procedamos con la reversión de la versión (rollback) inmediatamente. / Hãy tiến hành revert phiên bản (rollback) ngay lập tức.	Spain: reversión. LATAM: rollback.

🎭 Role-Play Dialogue (Spain Tech Workplace)

Context: A severe production incident requiring immediate action over Slack.

Lucía (DevOps): ¡El servidor está cayendo! Javier, haz (Informal Aff.) un volcado de memoria (memory dump) y reinicia (Informal Aff.) el contenedor. (The server is crashing! Javier, do a memory dump and restart the container.) (Server đang sập! Javier, tạo memory dump và khởi động lại container đi.)

Javier (Backend): Voy. ¡Pero no toques (Informal Neg.) el balanceador de carga todavía! Esperemos (Nosotros) a tener los logs completos. (I’m on it. But don’t touch the load balancer yet! Let’s wait to have the full logs.) (Đang làm đây. Nhưng đừng đụng vào load balancer vội! Hãy đợi có đầy đủ log đã.)

Lucía: De acuerdo. Descarga (Informal Aff.) los logs y pásamelos (Aff. + Pronouns). (Agreed. Download the logs and pass them to me.) (Đồng ý. Tải log xuống và gửi cho tôi.)

📚 Bilingual Technical Vocabulary

Español (ES)	English (EN)	Tiếng Việt (VN)
Ejecute (Usted) / Ejecuta (Tú)	Run / Execute	Chạy / Thực thi
No borres (Tú)	Do not delete	Đừng xóa
Abstenerse de	To refrain from	Hạn chế / Tránh
Volcado de memoria	Memory dump	Bản ghi bộ nhớ (Memory dump)
Hacer clic / Pulse	Click / Press	Nhấp / Nhấn

🚫 Common Anti-Patterns

• Mistake: No tocas el código de producción. (Using present indicative for a negative command).
• Correction: No toques el código de producción.
• Why: Negative commands ALWAYS require the subjunctive mood.

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Part 2: Practice Workspace

Scenario & Context

You are writing a section of a README.md file for an open-source tool. You need to write formal (Usted) instructions:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Do not modify the config file directly.
3. Run the setup script.

User Practice Area

(Write your responses in Spanish here…)

Progressive Socratic Hints

1. Hint 1: “Clone” -> Clonar (Usted imperative: Clone).
2. Hint 2: “Do not modify” -> Modificar (Usted negative imperative / subjunctive: No modifique).
3. Hint 3: “Run” -> Ejecutar (Usted imperative: Ejecute).

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Part 4: Assessment Exam

❓ MCQs

1. Which is the correct INFORMAL (Tú) affirmative command for “Hacer” (to do)?
   • A. Haces
   • B. Haga
   • C. Haz
2. Which is the correct FORMAL (Usted) negative command for “Borrar” (to delete)?
   • A. No borra
   • B. No borre
   • C. No borras
3. In technical manuals, which form is frequently used instead of conjugated imperatives?
   • A. Preterite (Borraba)
   • B. Infinitive (Borrar)
   • C. Future (Borrará)
4. Translate “Let’s deploy”:
   • A. Desplegamos
   • B. Despleguemos
   • C. Desplegar
5. Where do pronouns go in AFFIRMATIVE commands? (e.g., “Send it to me”).
   • A. Attached to the end (Envíamelo).
   • B. Before the verb (Me lo envía).
   • C. They are omitted entirely.

🧪 Fill-in-the-Blanks

1. (Tú - Aff) ________ (guardar) los cambios antes de salir.
2. (Tú - Neg) ¡No ________ (hacer) un git push -f en la rama principal!
3. (Usted - Aff - README) ________ (instalar) las dependencias usando pip install.
4. (Nosotros - Aff) ________ (revisar) este PR juntos.
5. (Usted - Neg - Manual) No ________ (apagar) el equipo durante la actualización.

🔍 Error Refactoring

Rewrite these incorrect commands into proper formal (Usted) technical manual instructions:

1. Tú descargas el archivo ZIP. ->
2. No cambias el puerto por defecto. ->
3. Tú tienes que correr el script de migración. ->
4. No haces commit de tus contraseñas. ->
5. Yo quiero que tú abras una terminal. ->

🗣️ Roleplay Short Answer

An intern is about to run a massive DELETE query without a WHERE clause on production. Give a short, urgent, informal (Tú) negative command to stop them, and an affirmative command to run a SELECT first.

🏆 Model DELE C1/C2 Benchmarks

• ¡Detente! No ejecutes esa consulta bajo ninguna circunstancia. Haz un SELECT previo para validar el alcance de la operación antes de proceder. (Stop! Do not execute that query under any circumstances. Do a previous SELECT to validate the scope of the operation before proceeding.) (Dừng lại! Tuyệt đối không được chạy query đó trong bất kỳ hoàn cảnh nào. Hãy chạy SELECT trước để xác thực phạm vi của thao tác trước khi tiến hành.)

📊 Self-Assessment Rubric

• Distinguished between Tú and Usted formality contexts.
• Mastered the rule: Negative commands ALWAYS use Subjunctive.
• Correctly formulated “Nosotros” (Let’s) commands.
• Produced professional, clear technical documentation instructions.