Imperatives plural

Frequently asked questions

When is Imperatives plural used?

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.

How is Imperatives plural formed?

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)! Venīte 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: audī tells one person to listen, audite tells the whole group. Watch the third-conjugation link vowel too - it is regite (with i ), not "regte".