diff --git a/src/git_commit_guard/__init__.py b/src/git_commit_guard/__init__.py
index 99c048f..ba4f2e4 100644
--- a/src/git_commit_guard/__init__.py
+++ b/src/git_commit_guard/__init__.py
@@ -34,6 +34,15 @@
 )
 
 _NON_IMPERATIVE_SUFFIX_RE = re.compile(r"(?:ing|ed)$")
+_VERB_FORMING_PREFIXES = frozenset(
+    {
+        "re",
+        "pre",
+        "auto",
+        "co",
+        "under",
+    }
+)
 _TRAILER_RE = re.compile(r"^[\w-]+:\s+\S")
 _GITHUB_REMOTE_RE = re.compile(
     r"github\.com[:/](?P<owner>[^/]+)/(?P<repo>[^/\s]+?)(?:\.git)?$"
@@ -235,6 +244,13 @@ def check_imperative(desc, result):
     if tagged[1][1] != "VB":
         if wordnet.morphy(first, wordnet.VERB) == first:
             return
+        if "-" in first:
+            hyphen_prefix, hyphen_base = first.split("-", 1)
+            if (
+                hyphen_prefix in _VERB_FORMING_PREFIXES
+                and wordnet.morphy(hyphen_base, wordnet.VERB) == hyphen_base
+            ):
+                return
         result.error(
             f"expected imperative verb, got '{tagged[1][0]}' (POS={tagged[1][1]})",
             check=Check.IMPERATIVE,
diff --git a/tests/test_git_commit_guard.py b/tests/test_git_commit_guard.py
index 73f7c16..7656167 100644
--- a/tests/test_git_commit_guard.py
+++ b/tests/test_git_commit_guard.py
@@ -573,6 +573,39 @@ def test_pos_fallback_unknown_word_fails(self):
         assert not r.ok
         assert "POS=NN" in r.errors[0][2]
 
+    def test_hyphen_re_prefix_verb_passes(self):
+        r = Result()
+        check_imperative("re-enable signature check", r)
+        assert r.ok
+
+    def test_hyphen_auto_prefix_verb_passes(self):
+        r = Result()
+        check_imperative("auto-detect format from header", r)
+        assert r.ok
+
+    def test_hyphen_pre_prefix_verb_passes(self):
+        r = Result()
+        check_imperative("pre-process input lines", r)
+        assert r.ok
+
+    def test_hyphen_unknown_prefix_fails(self):
+        # 'high' is not in the verb-forming prefix allowlist
+        r = Result()
+        check_imperative("high-level overview of foo", r)
+        assert not r.ok
+
+    def test_hyphen_non_verb_base_fails(self):
+        # 'in' is not a verb, so even though split shape matches, base check rejects
+        r = Result()
+        check_imperative("built-in helper function", r)
+        assert not r.ok
+
+    def test_hyphen_inflected_suffix_still_fails(self):
+        # Suffix check runs before hyphen escape — 're-running' caught by ing$
+        r = Result()
+        check_imperative("re-running the tests", r)
+        assert not r.ok
+
 
 class TestDownloadIfMissing:
     def test_skips_download_when_present(self):