pagar Affirmative Imperative Conjugation
pagar — to pay
Use 'paga' for informal 'tú' and 'pague' for formal 'usted'.
pagar Affirmative Imperative Forms
When to Use the Affirmative Imperative
Use the imperative to give a direct command to someone to pay for something.
Notes on pagar in the Affirmative Imperative
The 'tú' form is regular (paga). The 'usted', 'ustedes', and 'nosotros' forms use the 'gu' spelling change from the subjunctive.
Example Sentences
Paga tú la cena hoy, yo pago mañana.
You pay for dinner today, I'll pay tomorrow.
tú
Pague en la caja número dos, por favor.
Pay at checkout counter number two, please.
usted
Paguemos la cuenta y vámonos.
Let's pay the bill and leave.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'paga' for a formal 'usted' command.
Correct: pague
Why: Paga is informal (tú). For formal or polite requests, you must use the subjunctive-based form.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: pago
Pagar is fully regular in the present tense: pago, pagas, paga, pagamos, pagáis, pagan.
Preterite
yo: pagué
The preterite of pagar has a spelling change in the first person (pagué) to keep the hard 'g' sound.
Imperfect
yo: pagaba
The imperfect of pagar is regular: pagaba, pagabas, pagaba, pagábamos, pagabais, pagaban.
Future
yo: pagaré
The future of pagar is regular: add endings to the full infinitive (pagaré, pagarás, etc.).
Conditional
yo: pagaría
The conditional of pagar is regular: add -ía endings to the infinitive (pagaría, pagarías).
Present Subjunctive
yo: pague
The present subjunctive of pagar uses the 'gu' spelling change in all forms: pague, pagues, pague, etc.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: pagara
The imperfect subjunctive of pagar is regular: pagara, pagaras, pagara, pagáramos, pagarais, pagaran.
Negative Imperative
yo: no pagues
The negative imperative always uses the present subjunctive: no pagues, no pague, no paguemos.