Formal commands, also known as usted commands, are a way of giving polite commands or requests in Spanish. These commands are used when addressing someone in a formal setting or when showing respect to someone who is older or in a position of authority.
In order to understand and use formal commands, a student should have previous knowledge of the present tense conjugation of regular verbs in the indicative mood, as well as of pronouns, since formal commands use the third person form. It is also helpful if they know how to conjugate direct object pronouns and possessive adjectives.
Below are two Spanish lesson plans for high school that you can use and a resource sheet with additional activities.
Formal Commands and Negative Formal Commands, Uses of POR: The Outdoors Lesson Plan for Spanish 2 – By the end of this lesson, students learn the negative and affirmative commands for usted and ustedes, the uses of the preposition por and vocabulary to talk about outdoor activities.4.
Affirmative & Negative Formal Commands: USTED, USTEDES – Nutrition Lesson Plan for Spanish 3 – Students will be able to understand when commands are being used, specifically in the usted, and ustedes form use them to give nutritional advice and advice about related health issues.
