Every other verb form in Igbo adds something. The present adds na-. The future adds ga-. The past adds an ending. The negative adds -ghị.
A command adds nothing. It is the verb on its own, and that makes the imperative the simplest form in the language — and the one you will hear first in any Igbo household.
The Bare Verb Is the Command
Those four words, said as they stand, are already commands. Here they are in real sentences:
- Kpọọ onye ahụ. — Call that person.
- Nye m ọmụmaatụ ahauche. — Give me an example of a common noun.
- Gaa gwa ha mee ọsọọsọ. — Go and tell them to be fast.
- Hapụ ọrụ gị. — Quit your job.
- Metụ onwe gị aka. — Touch yourself.
- Buru nri nke bukarịrị. — Take the food that is bigger.
No subject, no marker. The verb leads the sentence and the person being addressed is understood — exactly as in English come here.
So if you have learned a verb, you have already learned how to command with it. The imperative costs you nothing extra.
Commanding Someone Else
To tell a third person to do something — English let him come — put the pronoun in front of the bare verb:
- Ya bịa ebe a. — Let him come here.
- Bịa ka anyị sịa asịrị. — Come, let’s gossip.
Still no tense marker. The verb stays bare and the pronoun does the pointing.
Making a Command Polite
A bare command can be blunt. Biko softens it, and it goes at the front:
- Biko, nyem narị naịra abụọ. — Please give me two hundred naira.
This matters more in Igbo than the grammar suggests. Giving a bare command to an elder is a social mistake rather than a grammatical one, and biko is the cheapest way to avoid it.
Telling Someone Not To
Negative commands do not use -ghị. They have their own ending: -la, often appearing as -kwala, with a vowel added at the front of the verb.
- Akpọla m na ndeeri, ọzọ. — Don’t call me at midnight again.
- Erikwala nri ọbụla mara evu. — Don’t eat any food that is covered with mould.
- Agakwala nke nwoke ahụ. — Do not go to that man’s place.
- Ejikwala efere ahụ maa agwa ahụ. — Don’t use that plate to measure those beans.
Compare the pairs. Kpọọ is call; Akpọla is don’t call. Rie is eat; Erikwala is don’t eat. Gaa is go; Agakwala is don’t go.
The front vowel follows harmony
Look at which vowel appears, and you will recognise the pattern from the negative verbs topic:
| Verb | Its vowel | Don’t … |
|---|---|---|
| kpọ | ọ | Akpọla |
| ga | a | Agakwala |
| rie | i | Erikwala |
| ji | i | Ejikwala |
| me | e | Emekwala |
Dotted vowels and a take A-. Undotted e, i, o, u take E-. The same rule governs negative verbs, the past tense ending and which vowels can share a word.
That is worth noticing, because it means you are not learning five separate rules. You are learning one pattern that shows up in five places.
Practise With Things You Would Actually Say
Take five verbs and give five commands — then forbid the same five things. Bịa and abịala. Rie and erikwala. Gaa and agakwala.
Say each pair out loud together. The positive is the verb with nothing on it; the negative is the same verb wearing a vowel in front and -la behind. Hearing them back to back is what fixes the difference.
And add biko to two of them, because in practice that is how you will say most of them.
Keep Learning Igbo Verbs
Commands are the fourth topic in the Basic Verbs lesson, deliberately placed before the tenses — because the imperative is the one form that needs no tense at all, and it gets you speaking on day one.
👉 Learn Basic Verbs in Igbo free on IgboLearn
💬 Practise giving commands one reply at a time in Igbo chat
Related reading: commands in Igbo and more commands in Igbo add a great many more to practise with. On the politeness point, how to say please in Igbo covers what biko is really doing, making polite requests in Igbo replaces the command with a request altogether, and how to greet Igbo elders respectfully is where a bare imperative does the most damage. The front vowel is vowel harmony again, as in negative verbs in Igbo.
Use the bare verb. Every other form adds something — na- for the present, ga- for the future, an ending for the past — but a command adds nothing. No subject, no marker: the verb leads and the person addressed is understood.
Negative commands do not use -ghị. They take their own ending -la, often as -kwala, with a vowel added on the front of the verb: kpọọ is call, Akpọla is don’t call; rie is eat, Erikwala is don’t eat.
Put biko at the front. A bare command can be blunt, and giving one to an elder is a social mistake rather than a grammatical one — biko is the cheapest way to avoid it.