Request / Command / Prohibition
What do we want the other person to do?
Meaning
A speech act that asks, tells, invites, warns, orders, suggests, or forbids someone to do something.
How to spot it
Ask whether the speaker is trying to make the listener act or stop acting.
Examples
please|don't|let's|could you|must not
please sit down|don't touch it|could you help
Please close the window.
Visual guide
Speaker wants listener action
SPEAKER ──asks/tells──> YOU
↓
do it / stop it
Please close the window.
Same intention, different shapes: Command: Close the window. Request: Please close... Question: Could you help? Invitation: Let's go. Prohibition: Don't touch it.
Language View
In your native language
English requests and commands use imperatives, modals, please, question forms, and intonation to manage directness.
Please close the window.
please close = request/command
In your learning language
Commands use imperative forms, while negative and many formal commands use subjunctive forms.
Ven aquí. No vengas. Venga, por favor.
Come here. Do not come. Please come, formal.
Learners often use the positive imperative form after no, which is incorrect.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.