Seall an tùs aig The Imperative or How to order people around

The imperative is the form of verbs used to give commands or to forbid something, when used in the negative. In Gaelic, it corresponds to the citation form of verbs, i.e. the form of a the verb you will find in a dictionary. To give a command to more than one addressee, the suffix <span style="color: #008000;">-(a)ibh</span> [ɪv] is added to the root, for example:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
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| <span style="color: #008000;">glan seo!</span> || clean this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">glanaibh seo!</span> || clean this! (to more than one)
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| <span style="color: #008000;">ith seo!</span> || eat this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">ithibh seo!</span> || eat this! (to more than one)
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|}

If a basic verb phrase includes a preposition, the preposition is usually dropped in the imperative, for example:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
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| <span style="color: #008000;">éist ri rudeigin!</span> || listen to something!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">éist seo!</span> || listen to this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">éistibh seo!</span> || listen to this! (to more than one)
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| <span style="color: #008000;">feuch ri rudeigin!</span> || try something!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">feuch seo!</span> || try this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">feuchaibh seo!</span> || try this! (to more than one)
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|}

Emphasis is expressed by using the emphasized personal pronouns, for example:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
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| <span style="color: #008000;">éist thusa seo!</span> || you listen to this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">éistibh sibhse seo!</span> || you guys listen to this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">feuch thusa seo!</span> || you try this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">feuchaibh sibhse seo!</span> || you guys try this!
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|}

There are also imperative forms for the first and third persons singular and plural. These carry a sense of encouragement or request, and they're best translated as 'let ...'. These forms are also referred to as subjunctive forms.  The third person is always followed by a personal pronoun.  Thus the full paradigm of suffixes is:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
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| <span style="color: #008000;">-(e)am</span> || 1st Person Singular || let me ...!
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| || 2nd Person Singular || ...!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">-(e)adh e/i</span> || 3rd Person Singular || let him/her ...!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">-(e)amaid</span> || 1st Person Plural || let us ...!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">-(a)ibh</span> || 2nd Person Plural || you guys ...!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">-(e)adh iad</span> || 3rd Person Plural || let them ...
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|}

N.B. In the imperative, 'let' does not carry the meaning of 'give permission'. It's more like a suggestion or encouragement, like in English 'let's go!' or à la Marie Antoinette 'let them eat cake!'. For example:

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| <span style="color: #008000;">òladh ise uisge!</span> || let her drink water!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">òlamaid uisge!</span> || let us drink water!
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|}

The negative is formed by putting <span style="color: #008000;">na</span> in front of the imperative forms.  <span style="color: #008000;">Na</span> prefixes <span style="color: #008000;">h-</span> to a verb beginning with a vowel, for example:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
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| <span style="color: #008000;">na glan seo!</span> || do not clean this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">na glanaibh seo!</span> || do not clean this! (to more than one)
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| <span style="color: #008000;">na h-ith seo!</span> || do not eat this!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">na h-ithibh seo!</span> || do not eat this! (to more than one)
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|}

There's another negative particle that you can stick in front of imperatives: <span style="color: #008000;">nar</span>, a leniting particle. However, they're both a bit tricky to translate. They're normally translated as "don't let/let not" but they have a different force, in Gaelic. The one above, <span style="color: #008000;">na</span> is meant as a straightforward order. But the other, <span style="color: #008000;">nar</span>, is what linguists call a negative optative complementiser. It's use reflects something like wishful thinking. Here are some examples of where you might see this:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
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| <span style="color: #008000;">nar leigeadh Dia!</span> || Heaven forbid, God forbid!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">nar fhaiceam i!</span> || may I not see her, let me not see her!
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There are a few verbs which are only used in the imperative:

{| style="width: 40%;" border="0" align="center"
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| <span style="color: #008000;">thugainn/thugnaibh</span> || let's go!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">trobhad/trobhadaibh</span> || come along!
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| <span style="color: #008000;">siuthad/siuthadaibh</span> || go on, carry on, go for it!
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