mentir Negative Imperative Conjugation
mentir — to lie
All negative commands for mentir use the present subjunctive forms.
mentir Negative Imperative Forms
When to Use the Negative Imperative
Crucial for telling someone 'Don't lie!'
Notes on mentir in the Negative Imperative
Since it uses subjunctive forms, remember the 'ie' change for most people and the 'i' change for nosotros and vosotros.
Example Sentences
¡No me mientas!
Don't lie to me!
tú
No mientan a sus padres.
Don't lie to your parents.
No mintamos sobre esto.
Let's not lie about this.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: No mientes.
Correct: No mientas.
Why: Negative commands must use the subjunctive ending (-as), not the indicative ending (-es).
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: miento
Mentir is a stem-changing verb (e > ie) in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: mentí
Mentir changes its stem from 'e' to 'i' only in the third-person forms: mintió and mintieron.
Imperfect
yo: mentía
Mentir is regular in the imperfect: mentía, mentías, mentía, mentíamos, mentíais, mentían.
Future
yo: mentiré
Mentir is completely regular in the future tense; just add the endings to the infinitive.
Conditional
yo: mentiría
The conditional of mentir is regular: mentiría, mentirías, mentiría, mentiríamos, mentiríais, mentirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: mienta
Mentir changes to 'ie' in most forms, but importantly uses 'i' in the nosotros/vosotros forms.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: mintiera
The imperfect subjunctive of mentir uses the 'i' stem: mintiera, mintieras, mintiera...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: miente
Use 'miente' for informal commands and 'mienta' for formal ones.