Forming the imperative
Russian imperatives come in two forms: ты (informal singular) and вы (formal/plural). They're built from the present-tense stem of the verb. Add не before the imperative to make it negative — and aspect choice matters.
Building the ты imperative
Take the они-form of the present tense. Drop the ending. What's left is the stem. - If it ends in a vowel: add -й. читать → они читают → stem чита- → читай! - If it ends in a consonant + stress on ending: add -и. говорить → они говорят → говор- → говори! - If it ends in a consonant + stem-stress: add -ь. ответить → они ответят → ответ- → ответь!
Building the вы imperative
Add -те to the ты imperative. - читай → читайте - говори → говорите - ответь → ответьте
Negation: aspect matters
Russian usually pairs the imperative with imperfective for prohibitions, perfective for one-shot commands. Positive (one-shot): perfective. Прочитай это! = Read this (now, all of it)! Negative: imperfective. Не читай это! = Don't read this! Using the wrong aspect sounds odd to natives — perfective negative usually means 'don't [accidentally] do X' (warning), e.g. Не упади! = Don't fall!
'Let's' commands
Use давай (informal) or давайте (formal/plural) + perfective future or imperfective infinitive: - Давай пойдём в кино = Let's go to the cinema. (perfective future = future-as-suggestion) - Давайте говорить по-русски = Let's speak Russian. (imperfective infinitive) Давайте читать = let's read (process). Давайте прочитаем = let's read it (and finish).
Common irregulars
Memorize these high-frequency forms: - быть → будь / будьте (be) - идти → иди / идите (go) - есть (eat) → ешь / ешьте - пить → пей / пейте
