Let’s keep talking about how to give commands using “vos” in the Spanish language. In a previous lesson, I showed you how to use the command form or the imperative form of “vos”. I also mentioned that after hours and hours of research I did not find a single website that gave the rules and exceptions of how to give commands in Spanish using “vos”.

And I also mentioned that the rules that I am sharing with you are from what I have learned from personal experience. And that after asking several university friends in Medellín, who have studied several foreign languages, none was able to articulate the grammatical rules of giving orders with “vos” because “vos” is not taught in schools other than as … slang is taught in school.

It is something that you simply learn to use correctly since you are a child, simply by being born in a country or region where “you” is used.

So, the only way I could identify the grammatical rules (and exceptions to the rules) to give orders with “vos” was by spending months and months in Medellín, Colombia, and always preparing with a “pen and notebook in my pocket” . (pen and pad in my pocket) and listening to the paisas (the ‘people’ or people of Medellín), and asking them innumerable questions

such as:

How do you command the verbs “compete”, “boil”, “moan”, “prefer”, “die”, “suggest”, and other “go” verbs that change root until I identify a pattern? And that “pattern” is what I call the grammar rules, and the exceptions to the rules, of giving orders with “you”.

But before I give you some examples of how to give commands with vos using the stem changing verbs “ir” and “irregular” verbs, I want to remind you of the two rules I gave in my last email about the use of “vos” with commands:

Rule Number One: The imperative of vos never has changes in the roots of the verbs unless they are verbs with changed roots and “go” in negative. That is, the imperative of “vos” never has changes in the stem of a verb unless the verb is a verb “ir” that changes the stem AND you are using it in the negative.

Rule Number Two. The negative is the same as the negative of you but with an accent on the last syllable. That is, the negative is the same as the negative of “tú” but with an accent on the last syllable. But don’t forget the exception to this “rule” or rule that I listed in “Rule Number One” which refers to negative commands that use “go” verbs that change the stem.

So now let me show you how to use “vos” with the stem that changes the verbs “ir”. If you got a copy of the Verbarrator software, then you already know that in the present tense, verbs that change stem and end in “go” are grouped into one of three patterns based on the change in the stem vowel:

ea ie

or everyone

and you

But that is NOT the same change that takes place with the stem that changes the verbs “go” when orders are given with “vos” – in negative.

When giving negative commands with “vos”, the verbs “ir” that change the stem make these changes:

where you

and you

Let me give you some examples of “vos” commands that use “ir” verbs that change stem:

compete – I competed (compete) – do not compete (do not compete)

boil – boil (boil) – do not boil (do not boil)

moan – moan (moan) – don’t moan (don’t moan)

prefer – preferred (prefer) – you will not prefer (not prefer)

die – I died (die) – don’t die (not die)

suggest – I suggested (suggest) – you won’t suggest (don’t suggest)

Now let me give you some examples of “vos” commands that use irregular verbs:

be – know (be) – be (not be)

say – say (say) – don’t say (don’t say)

have – have (have) – don’t have (not have)

So that’s what I’ve discovered about giving orders with “vos” with “go” verbs that change stem and irregular verbs. Like I said, you won’t find this in a Spanish grammar book on any website. This is what I have discovered after months and months of analysis and deduction, taking many notes and asking many questions.