Commands (Informal, TÚ, irregular) 1

The 8 irregular tú command forms — These 8 verbs have short, irregular affirmative tú commands that must be memorised: ser → sé, tener → ten, venir → ven, decir → di, hacer → haz, poner → pon, salir → sal, ir → ve. A popular mnemonic: SeTe VinDi HazPon SalVe.

Irregulars only affect affirmative tú — These irregular short forms only apply to the affirmative tú command. The negative tú command uses the regular present subjunctive even for irregular verbs: no tengas, no vengas, no digas, no hagas. The irregular short form never appears in negative commands.

Compounds of irregular verbs — Verbs built on these irregular stems keep the same pattern: poner → pon → proponer → propón, componer → compón. Similarly tener → ten → mantener → mantén, obtener → obtén. Learn the base irregular and you get the compounds for free.