Imperatives plural
When you give a command to more than one person - a class, a crowd, a group of soldiers - Latin uses the plural imperative.
Can recognize Imperatives plural in a short Latin prompt
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Marcus reads.
Julia sees the tablet.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
When you give a command to more than one person - a class, a crowd, a group of soldiers - Latin uses the plural imperative. It is built from the singular command by adding -te (with a linking vowel in the third conjugation). Roman writers of notices and speeches lean on it heavily, so it is worth recognizing at a glance.
| Conjugation | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ama! - love! | amate! - love! |
| 2nd | mone! - warn! | monete! - warn! |
| 3rd | rege! - rule! | regite! - rule! |
| 4th | audi! - listen! | audite! - listen! |
The verbs that shorten in the singular become regular again in the plural: dic! becomes dicite!, duc! becomes ducite!, fac! becomes facite!.
Examples: Legite librum! - Read the book (all of you)! Venite huc! - Come here!
For English speakers: English uses the very same word whether you command one person or many ("Read!"), so nothing in your native grammar reminds you to mark the number. In Latin the -te ending does that work: audi tells one person to listen, audite tells the whole group. Watch the third-conjugation link vowel too - it is regite (with i), not "regte".
Marcus reads.
Example for Imperatives plural.
Julia sees the tablet.
A short A1 sentence with visible endings.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises