Useful Spanish Commands: 70+ Mexican Spanish Imperatives

Mexican Spanish imperatives are the fast lane to sounding useful instead of vaguely panicked. They help you tell someone to sit down, wait a second, bring it here, don’t worry, or go ahead without waving your hands like you’re directing traffic in a thunderstorm.

For the broader learning path, visit our parent guide.

This guide focuses on natural Mexican Spanish, with the kind of commands people actually use in homes, stores, taxis, restaurants, and group chats. If you need the politeness basics first, it helps to know the difference between tú vs. usted, because command forms change depending on who you’re talking to. Spanish does enjoy making simple things slightly more annoying.

By the end, you’ll know 70+ useful commands, how to sound polite or casual, and how to avoid the classic learner move of translating English word-for-word and hoping for the best.

Quick Reality Check: Mexican Spanish Commands

In Spanish, commands are called imperatives. The good news: lots of them are short, punchy, and easy to use. The slightly less good news: the form changes depending on whether you’re speaking to one person, more than one person, politely, casually, affirmatively, or negatively. Naturally.

For Mexican Spanish, the casual singular “you” is usually tú, and the polite form is usted. For a quick refresher, see this guide to tú vs. usted.

Spanish commands are not about sounding bossy. They’re about being clear. Useful is sexy. Confused hand gestures are not.

How Mexican Spanish Imperatives Work

Here’s the basic idea: for many regular verbs, the command form is built from the verb’s present tense or subjunctive form. But you do not need to memorize the machinery before you can start using useful commands.

One little pronunciation note: many command forms in Mexican Spanish are short and sharp, but the vowels still matter. Spanish vowels are clean and steady, not the sad little mushy vowel soup English sometimes produces.

Essential Everyday Commands

These are the commands you’ll use constantly: at home, in class, with friends, in a taxi, at a market, and when your phone battery dies at the worst possible time.

Notice the difference between dame and déme. Same idea, different level of politeness. Spanish does this constantly, because apparently one good word form would be too easy.

Useful Commands For Daily Life

These are perfect for home, errands, directions, food, and basic survival situations where your Spanish still thinks in subtitles.

Commands For Travel, Street Life, And Getting Around

If you’re in Mexico and need to ask for directions, these forms are the useful, non-dramatic ones. Much better than pointing at a map and hoping the universe helps.

If you hear camión in Mexico, it can mean “bus,” not “truck,” depending on context. Spanish likes context. It also likes making English speakers guess.

Polite Commands You’ll Hear Everywhere

Polite commands are your best friend in shops, offices, clinics, and anywhere you want to sound respectful instead of accidentally sounding like a tiny dictator.

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