Imperativo - Command vs wish

[BobRitter]

I thought I understood the imperative until we got to the lesson on it.
1. Démelo - Give it to me
2. Pidame una cervesa - Order me a beer
3. Vaya con dios - Go with God

The imperative, according to my lesson book can express an order (1) or a wish (3).

Then how do you say

Go with Juan. (An order)
Go with Juan. (A wish)

Would both be "Vaya con Juan".

Thank you, Bob Ritter

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by BobRitter

1. Démelo - Give it to me
2. Pídame una cerveza - Order me a beer
3. Vaya con Dios - Go with God

The imperative, according to my lesson book can express an order (1) or a wish (3). See my comments below.

Go with Juan. (An order)
Go with Juan. (A wish)

Would both be "Vaya con Juan". No.

The imperative is used for giving direct commands, period.
Your textbook may be trying to teach that an indirect command form, which can express a wish, is possible, but the imperative mood is NOT used when expressing a wish.

For indirect commands (wishes, encouragement, etc.), the formula is:

que + clause containing a verb in the subjunctive mood

Que él vaya en paz. (Let him go in peace.)
Que pase ella. (Let her come in.)
Que tengas un buen día. (Have a nice day.)

So you can see the difference, let's examine the last sentence above.
It's meaning is '(I hope) you have a nice day'. This is a wish, not a command.
A direct command to 'Have a good day' sounds a bit strange. Why would you order someone to have a nice day?!?

The command forms (imperative) of tener are:



There is no imperative form for 'yo', 'él' or 'ella', so only an indirect command may be used.

The subjunctive forms of tener are:



These are used for indirect commands, using the formula stated above.

[BobRitter]

Thank you Rusty. That is about how I understood it. But then the text gives the examples:
pensar yo pienso piense! piensen!
entender yo entiendo entienda! entiendan!
dormir yo duermo duerma! duerman!

How do you command someone to understand? Or to sleep for that matter unless perhaps you are a hypnotist.

I really appreciate the help. Bod Ritter

[Rusty]

I don't like your book.

I can only think that it might be trying to show you that the imperative is formed from the first-person present indicative tense. This is true, except for a couple of irregular verbs.

The commands 'understand' and 'sleep' are not as common, but they are used.

(There should be an opening exclamation point where a closing one is used.)

[chileno]

Originally Posted by BobRitter

Thank you Rusty. That is about how I understood it. But then the text gives the examples:
pensar yo pienso piense! piensen!
entender yo entiendo entienda! entiendan!
dormir yo duermo duerma! duerman!

How do you command someone to understand? Or to sleep for that matter unless perhaps you are a hypnotist.

I really appreciate the help. Bod Ritter

You mean to tell me that you have never told your child:

Please, understand what I am saying!

Or, "Sleep!" for that matter?

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by BobRitter

How do you command someone to understand? Or to sleep for that matter unless perhaps you are a hypnotist.

Since when must a command be a workable action?
For the number of times "¡vete a la m*****!" ("Go f*** yourself!") has been said I didn't know of a case the addressee had really performed that specific action.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Bob: I think the book is just giving you examples of verbs with -ar, -er, -ir endings, whether you actually would use them in your daily life or not.

[BobRitter]

aleCcoweN - You are correct now that I think about it. I tend to think a bit formally at times when trying to learn Spanish.

So thanks again to all. Bob