When you report a command — what someone told, asked, or ordered another person to do — Brazilian Portuguese does something English does not. English uses an infinitive ("She told me to leave"), but Portuguese, in its careful register, uses a finite clause with the subjunctive: Ela mandou que eu saísse. In everyday speech, though, Brazilians lean heavily on a simpler infinitive construction, pra + infinitive, that feels much closer to English. This page covers both, when to use each, and the logic underneath. If you have not seen the overview of reported speech, read that first.
Why the subjunctive? The logic of the reported command
A command tells someone to make something true that is not yet true. When you report it, you are reporting an action that was desired or demanded — not an action that happened. Portuguese reserves the subjunctive precisely for actions that live in the realm of wishes, demands, and possibilities rather than established fact. So a reported command is, grammatically, a kind of reported wish: "she demanded that the situation become such that I leave." That is exactly the same machinery as quero que você saia ("I want you to leave"). If you understand the subjunctive after verbs of desire, you already understand reported commands.
— Saia! → Ela pediu que eu saísse.
'Leave!' → She asked me to leave.
The original imperative Saia! becomes a que-clause in the subjunctive. The reporting verbs that trigger this are the verbs of ordering and requesting: pedir (to ask/request), mandar (to order/tell), dizer (to tell — in its command sense), ordenar (to order), exigir (to demand), recomendar (to recommend), sugerir (to suggest).
Tense matching: present verb → present subjunctive, past verb → imperfect subjunctive
The tense of the subjunctive in the que-clause is governed by the tense of the reporting verb. This is the sequence of tenses, and it is rigid.
| Reporting verb | Subjunctive in the clause | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present (pede, manda) | Present subjunctive | Pede que eu saia. |
| Past (pediu, mandou) | Imperfect subjunctive | Pediu que eu saísse. |
O médico recomenda que eu beba mais água.
The doctor recommends that I drink more water.
O médico recomendou que eu bebesse mais água.
The doctor recommended that I drink more water.
A professora pede que a gente faça silêncio.
The teacher asks us to be quiet.
A professora pediu que a gente fizesse silêncio.
The teacher asked us to be quiet.
"Dizer" and "mandar": telling someone to do something
Dizer que is ambiguous in a useful way. With the indicative, it reports a statement ("she said that I was leaving"). With the subjunctive, it reports a command ("she told me to leave"). The mood does the disambiguating — English needs two different structures, Portuguese flips one switch.
Ela disse que eu saía cedo todo dia.
She said that I left early every day. (statement — indicative)
Ela disse que eu saísse mais cedo.
She told me to leave earlier. (command — subjunctive)
Mandar and ordenar are inherently commands, so they always take the subjunctive in the que-construction:
O guarda mandou que todos abrissem as malas.
The guard ordered everyone to open their bags.
The colloquial alternative: "pra/para + infinitive"
Here is what Brazilians actually say most of the time. Instead of the que + subjunctive clause, spoken Brazilian Portuguese uses mandar / pedir / dizer + (subject) + infinitive, very often with pra ("para") in front. This construction is enormously common and sounds completely natural; the subjunctive version can sound slightly more formal or written.
Ela pediu pra eu sair.
She asked me to leave. (informal)
A mãe mandou as crianças escovarem os dentes.
The mother told the kids to brush their teeth. (informal)
O chefe disse pra gente chegar mais cedo amanhã.
The boss told us to get in earlier tomorrow. (informal)
Two things to notice. First, the infinitive is often personal (inflected): pra eu sair, pra nós sairmos, as crianças escovarem. The personal infinitive lets the construction keep its own subject — something English handles with "for me to," and a feature unique to Portuguese among the Romance languages. Second, mandar has a special bare pattern: mandar + someone + infinitive with no que and no pra.
O professor mandou eu sair da sala.
The teacher told me to leave the room. (informal)
"Deixar": letting / allowing
The same infinitive frame works for deixar ("to let/allow"), which is the negative-permission counterpart of a command. Deixar strongly prefers the infinitive (not a que-clause) in normal speech.
Meus pais não deixavam eu sair à noite.
My parents wouldn't let me go out at night. (informal)
O segurança não deixou a gente entrar sem ingresso.
The security guard didn't let us in without a ticket.
Negative commands
A negative imperative ("Don't touch that!") reports the same way — the negation simply sits inside the clause or before the infinitive.
A mãe pediu que as crianças não mexessem no fogão.
The mother asked the children not to touch the stove.
A mãe pediu pras crianças não mexerem no fogão.
The mother asked the kids not to touch the stove. (informal)
Choosing between the two structures
| Register | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Formal / written | verb + que + subjunctive | Pediu que eu saísse. |
| Informal / spoken | verb + (pra) + personal infinitive | Pediu pra eu sair. |
Both are correct. The subjunctive version is never wrong, so if in doubt — especially in writing — use it. But to sound like a native speaker in conversation, reach for pra + infinitive.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ela pediu que eu sair.
Incorrect — 'que' demands a conjugated subjunctive, not an infinitive.
✅ Ela pediu que eu saísse.
She asked me to leave.
❌ Ela pediu que eu saia.
Incorrect — present subjunctive after a past reporting verb.
✅ Ela pediu que eu saísse.
She asked me to leave. (past verb → imperfect subjunctive)
❌ O chefe disse para eu chegar cedo, mas usei o indicativo: 'disse que eu chego cedo' para dar uma ordem.
Incorrect — indicative 'chego' reports a statement, not a command.
✅ O chefe disse que eu chegasse cedo. / O chefe disse pra eu chegar cedo.
The boss told me to arrive early.
❌ Mandou que eu sair.
Incorrect — 'mandar que' still needs the subjunctive.
✅ Mandou que eu saísse. / Mandou eu sair.
He told me to leave.
❌ Pediu para eu saísse.
Incorrect — 'para' takes the infinitive, not the subjunctive; don't mix the two structures.
✅ Pediu para eu sair. / Pediu que eu saísse.
He asked me to leave.
Key Takeaways
- A reported command becomes verb + que + subjunctive, with the subjunctive tense matching the reporting verb (present → present subjunctive; past → imperfect subjunctive).
- The trigger verbs are pedir, mandar, dizer, ordenar, recomendar, sugerir, exigir.
- Dizer que
- subjunctive = command; dizer que
- indicative = statement.
- subjunctive = command; dizer que
- The colloquial Brazilian default is (pra) + personal infinitive: pediu pra eu sair, mandou eu sair, não deixou a gente entrar.
- Never mix them: que takes the subjunctive; pra/para takes the infinitive — choose one frame.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Reported (Indirect) Speech: OverviewB1 — How to turn someone's exact words into a report in Brazilian Portuguese — the reporting verbs dizer/falar que and perguntar se, plus the pronoun, time, and place shifts that come with changing perspective.
- Reporting Questions in BRB1 — How to turn a direct question into reported (indirect) speech in Brazilian Portuguese — using 'perguntar se' for yes/no questions and a question word for wh-questions, with statement word order and tense backshift.
- Subjunctive after Verbs of Desire and WillA2 — Why querer que, pedir que, and other verbs of wanting force the subjunctive — and the English-speaker error to avoid.
- Presente do Subjuntivo: Regular -ar VerbsA2 — How to form the present subjunctive of regular -ar verbs, including the spelling changes that keep the sound consistent.
- Imperfeito do Subjuntivo: UsageB1 — When to use the imperfect subjunctive in Brazilian Portuguese — hypothetical 'se' clauses, past-tense triggers, 'como se', and softened wishes.