Affirmative imperative: tu/você forms (fala!, coma!)

The você command (Brazil's everyday default)

Brazil addresses almost everyone as você, and its command is easy: take the ele/ela present tense and swap the final vowel.

Daily situations

• "Entre e fique à vontade!" (Come in and make yourself at home!)

• "Senta aqui do meu lado." (Sit here next to me.)

• "Fala comigo depois." (Talk to me later.)

• "Deixa que eu pago!" (Let me get this!)

• "Experimenta o bolo!" (Try the cake!)

Giving directions

• "Siga reto até o semáforo." (Go straight until the traffic light.)

• "Vire à esquerda no banco." (Turn left at the bank.)

• "Pegue o metrô da linha verde." (Take the green line subway.)

• "Desça na próxima estação." (Get off at the next station.)

Reflexive verbs in the imperative

• Standard: Sente-se! (Sit down!)

• Everyday Brazilian: Se senta! or just Senta!

• Not used in Brazil: Senta-se! ❌

Verbs ending in -ear add an i

• passear → passeie (not "passee")

• pentear → penteie (not "pentee")

Look-alikes that aren't commands

Some fixed expressions look like imperatives but aren't:

• Valeu! (Thanks! — not "it was worth it")

Here's the twist the grammar books gloss over: most Brazilians say você, yet still reach for the short tu command — Fala! rather than the textbook Fale!, Vem cá! rather than Venha cá!. Mixing the tu command with você technically breaks the rule, but it's the everyday norm — on the street, at home, even in advertising. Source: Só Português.