дай/дайте; будь/будьте

Common Irregular Imperatives

Level 2Sounds Like daj/dajte; budʹ/budʹte

The verbs дать (to give), быть (to be), есть (to eat), ехать (to go by vehicle), and лечь (to lie down) have irregular imperative forms: дай/дайте, будь/будьте, ешь/ешьте, поезжай/поезжайте, and ляг/лягте. Negative commands use imperfective forms like не давай and не езди.

How It Works

These imperatives are grouped together because they involve unique stems or specific orthographic rules that learners should become confident with.

1. Дай / Дайте (from дать)
The verb дать is irregular. The imperative irregularly adds -й directly to the root да- (dropping the consonant from the future stem дад-ут).

  • Дай: Informal (ты)
  • Дайте: Formal or plural (вы)

It is the standard way to ask for an object. Note that 'let's' uses давай/давайте.

2. Будь / Будьте (from быть)
This derives from the future stem буд-. Because the 1st-person singular буду has the stress on the stem, it takes a soft sign (-ь) instead of the -и ending.

  • Будь: Informal
  • Будьте: Formal or plural

3. Ешь / Ешьте (from есть)
The verb 'to eat' is also irregular. In the imperative, it ends in the letter ш followed by a soft sign.

  • Ешь: Informal
  • Ешьте: Formal or plural

Note: The soft sign here is a grammatical spelling convention, not a sign to soften the consonant.

4. Поезжай / Поезжайте (from ехать)
The verb ехать lacks a standard imperative form from its own stem. Forms like едь or ехай are strictly incorrect. The form езжай is very common in everyday speech, but is considered colloquial; поезжай is the only strictly correct literary form. Instead, you must use the imperative of the perfective verb поехать.

  • Поезжай: Informal
  • Поезжайте: Formal or plural

5. Ляг / Лягте (from лечь)
The verb лечь (to lie down) is irregular because its imperative ends in a single consonant but does not take a soft sign.

  • Ляг: Informal
  • Лягте: Formal or plural

Negative Imperatives
When telling someone not to do something, Russian almost always uses the imperfective aspect. Therefore, the negative commands for these verbs are formed from their imperfective counterparts:

  • Don't give: не давай / не давайте (from давать)
  • Don't go (drive): не езди / не ездите (from ездить)
  • Don't eat: не ешь / не ешьте (from есть - imperfective)
  • Don't lie down: не ложись / не ложитесь (from ложиться)

Examples (6)

  1. Дай мне, пожалуйста, твой номер телефона.

    Give me your phone number, please.

    Word by Word: Give to-me, please, your number of-phone.

    A standard informal request using 'дай' with the dative 'мне'.

  2. Будьте осторожны, здесь скользко!

    Be careful, it's slippery here!

    Word by Word: Be careful, here slippery!

    A formal or plural warning using 'будьте'. Note that the adjective 'осторожны' must be plural to match the verb.

  3. Ешь суп, пока он горячий.

    Eat the soup while it is hot.

    Word by Word: Eat soup, while it hot.

    The informal imperative 'ешь' (from есть) follows a spelling rule where a soft sign is written after the 'ш', even though the sound 'ш' remains hard in Russian.

  4. Поезжай прямо, а потом направо.

    Drive straight, and then to the right.

    Word by Word: Drive straight, and then to-right.

    The standard imperative for 'ехать' is formed from the perfective 'поехать'.

  5. Лягте на спину и расслабьтесь.

    Lie down on your back and relax.

    Word by Word: Lie-down on back and relax.

    The imperative of 'лечь' is 'ляг/лягте', which is irregular because it does not take a soft sign despite ending in a consonant.

  6. Не давай ему деньги и не езди туда.

    Don't give him money and don't go there.

    Word by Word: Not give to-him money and not go there.

    Negative commands use the imperfective aspect: 'не давай' (from давать) and 'не езди' (from ездить).

Common Mistakes

  • Using «давай» instead of «дай» for a one-time request.

    Different MeaningДавай мне книгу.
    Дай мне книгу.

    «Давай мне книгу» is correct in speech, but it sounds like 'come on, give me the book'. For a plain request, use the perfective «дай».

  • Using «не дай» as a plain ban.

    Different MeaningНе дай ему ключи.
    Не давай ему ключи.

    «Не дай ему ключи» is correct, but it is a warning: 'make sure you do not give him the keys'. For a plain ban, use the imperfective: «Не давай ему ключи».

  • Adding a soft sign to 'лягте'.

    Лягьте на диван.
    Лягте на диван.

    The imperative of 'лечь' is 'ляг/лягте'. It is an exception and does not take a soft sign after the 'г'.

How It Connects

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дай/дайте; будь/будьтеLevel 2Common Irregular Imperatives

Learn This First

To learn these common irregular imperatives, learners need to understand the T-V distinction (informal vs. formal address) to correctly apply the plural/polite suffix -те. Additionally, familiarity with basic verb stems and the related hortatory particle 'давай' provides the necessary morphological context for these specific irregular forms.

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Words in This Pattern

дать