[Multilingual Monday] And I am telling you ...
I find command forms in various languages to be fascinating. In English, "Drive!", "Go!", "Fight!", etc., are all command forms but also identical to the present tense verb. Likewise, using "Don't" negates the above verbs -- "Don't drive!", "Don't go!", "Don't fight!", etc. But in many languages the command form is NOT this straightforward.
WHO ARE YOU SPEAKING TO? In many languages the number of people or even gender of those people will change the command verb. See Hebrew's "tell": תגיד, tagid ("Tell!", to a man); תגידי, tagidi, "Tell!" (to one woman); תגידו, tagidu, "Tell!" (to multiple people).
POLITENESS LEVELS: Verbs can reflect politeness levels in certain languagse, and it's certainly no different in commands. Informal ven, "come," in Spanish, is venga (also the subjunctive). Japanese has a separate command verb form -- 話す, hanasu, becomes 話せ, hanase (speak -> "Speak!"). The command is very vulgar and rough, and many prefer "softer" forms like 話してください, hanashite kudasai, "Speak please" (something more literally like "Speak for me").
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FORMS: Almost all languages I've studied, have distinctly different forms for negative and positive commands. Hebrew;s תן, ten, is the masculine singular command for "give", but to say "Don't give," one needs to use אל תיתן, al titen. Not only is al NOT a form of "don't" outside of the negative command, but when negating one needs to use the FUTURE tense. That being said, in more colloquial usage it's far more common to use the future for the POSITIVE too except for short command forms like ten.
This is overly simplified but covers some of the bigger differences in the use of the command form between English and other languages. I'd love to hear your tales of the imperative!
WHO ARE YOU SPEAKING TO? In many languages the number of people or even gender of those people will change the command verb. See Hebrew's "tell": תגיד, tagid ("Tell!", to a man); תגידי, tagidi, "Tell!" (to one woman); תגידו, tagidu, "Tell!" (to multiple people).
POLITENESS LEVELS: Verbs can reflect politeness levels in certain languagse, and it's certainly no different in commands. Informal ven, "come," in Spanish, is venga (also the subjunctive). Japanese has a separate command verb form -- 話す, hanasu, becomes 話せ, hanase (speak -> "Speak!"). The command is very vulgar and rough, and many prefer "softer" forms like 話してください, hanashite kudasai, "Speak please" (something more literally like "Speak for me").
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FORMS: Almost all languages I've studied, have distinctly different forms for negative and positive commands. Hebrew;s תן, ten, is the masculine singular command for "give", but to say "Don't give," one needs to use אל תיתן, al titen. Not only is al NOT a form of "don't" outside of the negative command, but when negating one needs to use the FUTURE tense. That being said, in more colloquial usage it's far more common to use the future for the POSITIVE too except for short command forms like ten.
This is overly simplified but covers some of the bigger differences in the use of the command form between English and other languages. I'd love to hear your tales of the imperative!