Unit 14: Future and conditional perfect tenses, translation considerations (part 4)
14.2 First Person Plural Commands
The affirmative command for nosotros/as (first person plural) is expressed most commonly by vamos + a + infinitive, or less commonly by the present subjunctive. When negative, the nosotros command, like all others, employs the present subjunctive.
The nosotros affirmative command of ir is irregular and is simply vamos.
Affirmative commands:
| Vamos a salir esta noche. Salgamos esta noche. |
Let’s go out tonight. |
| Vamos a alquilar una película. Alquilemos una película. |
Let’s rent a film (movie). |
| Vamos a la lectura de poesía. | Let’s go to the poetry reading. (We’re going to the poetry reading. [See last example below to contrast the two sentences.]) |
Negative commands:
| No salgamos esta noche. | Let’s not go out tonight. |
| No alquilemos una película. | Let’s not rent a film. |
| No vayamos a la lectura de poesía. | Let’s not go to the poetry reading. |
In some cases, such as Alquilemos una película, it becomes important to know the infinitive ending in order to distinguish between the present indicative (alquilamos [“we rent/are renting”]) and the command (alquilemos [“let’s rent”]).
Affirmative commands with vamos + a + infinitive may be ambiguous out of context:
| Vamos a hacerlo. | Let’s do it. We’re going to do it. |
