In certain cases the imperative in the second person has an -e for the very simple reason that otherwise the word would be very hard to pronounce. This is the case when the root ends on an more than one consonant + m
or n.
Some examples
Infinitive
root
imperative
second singular
imperative
first plural
imperative
second plural
imperative
formal singular
imperative
formal plural
rechnen
rechn-
rechne
rechnen wir
rechnet
rechnen Sie
rechnen Sie
calculate
let us calculate
calculate
calculate
calculate
atmen
atm-
atme
atmen wir
atmet
atmen
Sie
atmen
Sie
breathe
let us breathe
breathe
breathe
breathe
You surely understand that without this -e
this imperative would be hard to pronounce.
Try to say:
difficult: rechn,
atm
easy: rechne,
atme
To make clear why we said when the verb is ending on an m
or n after another more than one consonant we show some other examples. These are easy to pronounce even without this -e.
