Present Subjunctive Overview

The presente do conjuntivo — the present subjunctive — is the single most used subjunctive tense in European Portuguese, and one of the most used tenses in the language, period. If you have ever said in English "I hope you feel better," "I want him to come," or "It's important that we leave now," each of those sentences, in Portuguese, requires the present subjunctive in the second verb. Learning to reach for it automatically is the key to sounding like an adult speaker rather than a polite but wooden tourist.

This page gives you the big picture: where the forms come from, what kinds of sentences trigger it, and how the pieces fit together. The deeper mechanics — regular paradigms, irregular paradigms, and each family of uses — live on their own pages, all linked here.

Why a subjunctive at all?

Portuguese splits its verb system into two broad camps based on the speaker's relationship to reality.

• The indicativo presents the action as real. Something happens, happened, or will happen. Ela vem amanhã. (She is coming tomorrow.)
• The conjuntivo presents the action as unreal, subjective, or not-yet. Something is wished, feared, doubted, demanded, hypothetical, or hovering in the space of possibility. Quero que ela venha amanhã. (I want her to come tomorrow.)

English has almost lost this distinction. We kept a few fossils — "I suggest he be on time," "If I were you" — but mostly we just use the indicative and let context or extra words ("that," "would," "may") do the work. Portuguese did not make that trade. It kept a full subjunctive mood with four tenses, and speakers use it constantly.

Where the forms come from

The formation rule for the present subjunctive is beautifully simple, and it will save you from memorizing enormous tables:

1. Take the 1st person singular (eu) form of the present indicative.
2. Drop the final -o.
3. Add the subjunctive endings.

That rule works for both regular and almost every irregular verb — the "irregularities" you see in the subjunctive usually come free with the indicative irregularity. Ter gives tenho in the indicative, so the subjunctive stem is tenh-. Fazer gives faço, so the stem is faç-. You don't have to learn two irregularities; you learn one and apply the recipe.

The ending swap

Portuguese verbs belong to three classes, defined by their infinitive ending: -ar, -er, and -ir. In the present indicative, the characteristic vowel of each class appears in most endings (-a- for -ar verbs, -e- for -er verbs, -i-/-e- for -ir verbs). The present subjunctive works by the opposite-vowel principle: the characteristic vowel flips.

So where the indicative falas has -a-, the subjunctive fales has -e-. Where comes has -e-, comas has -a-. That single vowel flip is the heartbeat of the whole system.

Three sample paradigms

Here are three regular verbs — one from each class — so you can see the full pattern at a glance. Note that European Portuguese uses tu for the informal singular, você or o senhor / a senhora for the formal singular, and vocês for the plural "you." We do not use vosotros-style forms; the archaic vós survives only in religious and literary contexts.

falar (to speak) — -ar verb

comer (to eat) — -er verb

partir (to leave) — -ir verb

Notice: the -er and -ir paradigms are identical. Once you know one, you know both. See regular forms for the full treatment, including spelling changes.

Where the subjunctive appears

The present subjunctive almost always lives in a subordinate clause — typically introduced by que — that depends on a main clause expressing a certain kind of attitude. The attitude is what triggers the subjunctive. Broadly, there are five families of triggers you will meet constantly.

1. Wishes and desires

When someone wants, hopes, prefers, or asks for something, and the wish targets another person's action, you get the subjunctive. The classic triggers are querer que, esperar que, desejar que, preferir que, pedir que.

See the wishes and desires page for the full treatment, including the crucial same-subject rule that pushes you to an infinitive instead.

2. Emotions and reactions

When the main clause expresses a feeling about something — joy, regret, fear, surprise, annoyance — the thing being felt about goes in the subjunctive.

Full details on the emotions page.

3. Doubt, denial, and uncertainty

When the speaker is distancing themselves from the truth of a statement — doubting it, denying it, or considering it unlikely — the verb after que goes in the subjunctive.

Note the polarity flip: acho que ele chega a horas (I think he'll get here on time — indicative, because you are asserting belief), but não acho que ele chegue a horas (I don't think he'll get here on time — subjunctive, because you are expressing doubt).

4. Impersonal expressions of evaluation

Impersonal phrases built with é + adjective + que that make an evaluation or judgment trigger the subjunctive. These include é importante que, é melhor que, é necessário que, é pena que, é possível que, é provável que.

The exception: impersonals that assert a fact use the indicative. É verdade que ele mora em Coimbra. (It's true he lives in Coimbra.) É óbvio que estamos cansados. (It's obvious we're tired.) Assertion of reality keeps the indicative; evaluation of a possibility reaches for the subjunctive.

5. Conjunctions that introduce unreal situations

Certain conjunctions always or often take the subjunctive because they inherently describe something unrealized, conditional, or concessive. The core set includes para que (so that), antes que (before), embora (although), a não ser que (unless), caso (in case), sem que (without), desde que (as long as), mesmo que (even if).

A whole page — covered in the conjunctions section — is dedicated to these, because several of them switch moods depending on meaning and need careful treatment.

The subject-change rule

One rule ties most subjunctive uses together: there must be two different subjects in the two clauses. If the wisher and the wished-for actor are the same person, Portuguese collapses the sentence into an infinitive (often the personal infinitive). This prevents clunky "I want that I go" structures.

Also appears: imperatives in disguise

Every negative command in Portuguese, plus almost every você, nós, and vocês affirmative command, is literally the present subjunctive. Não fales! = "don't speak" is the subjunctive fales with não stuck in front. Fale, por favor = "please speak" (addressing você) is subjunctive. Sentemo-nos = "let's sit down" is subjunctive. So when you learn the present subjunctive, you are simultaneously learning most of the imperative. See the imperative overview for how the pieces mesh.

Standalone: talvez and oxalá

Two adverbs deserve their own note because they trigger the subjunctive without needing a main clause.

Talvez (maybe, perhaps) — when placed before the verb, it takes the subjunctive. When placed after the verb, it takes the indicative.

Oxalá (let's hope, God willing) — from Arabic inshallah, survives in Portuguese as a heartfelt expression of hope. It always takes the subjunctive.

Tomara que is a close synonym, slightly more colloquial and less common in Portugal than in Brazil, but you will still hear it.

A decision flowchart

When you meet a Portuguese sentence and wonder whether to use subjunctive or indicative, walk through these questions:

Three tenses, one mood — a preview

The present subjunctive is only one of three main subjunctive tenses in Portuguese. The other two become essential as you progress:

• Imperfect subjunctive (fizesse, falasse, vivesse) — used after past-tense triggers (queria que fizesses) and in counterfactual se clauses (se eu fosse rico…). It is the tense that follows a conditional or a past main verb.
• Future subjunctive (fizeres, falares, vivermos) — used after time and conditional conjunctions when the action is still in the future: quando chegares, se puder, assim que souberes. Portuguese preserves this tense that Spanish has largely abandoned; it is one of the most distinctive features of the language.

Get the present subjunctive solid first, then move to the imperfect subjunctive and the future subjunctive in turn. Each tense builds on the formation logic of the one before.

European Portuguese vs Brazilian Portuguese

The present subjunctive is used in Brazil too, but somewhat less rigorously in casual speech — Brazilians sometimes leak the indicative into subjunctive contexts. European Portuguese is stricter: if a trigger is present, the subjunctive is obligatory in normal educated speech. You will also hear the term conjuntivo in Portugal and subjuntivo in Brazil for the same mood. We use conjuntivo on this site because that is the European Portuguese term.

Common Mistakes

Querer que is the prototype wish trigger. The embedded verb must be subjunctive. English speakers instinctively reach for what looks like the indicative because English has no mood distinction here.

This sentence is one of the most common written/spoken openers in Portuguese (letters, messages, emails). Getting it wrong marks you instantly as a beginner.

Same-subject sentences take the infinitive, not que + subjunctive. This is the rule English speakers miss most often, because English accepts "I want to go" / "I want that I go" equally grammatically (even if the second sounds odd).

Talvez placement matters: before the verb, subjunctive; after the verb, indicative. Most learners only learn the "before" position, so they need to reach for esteja, not está.

Impersonal expressions that evaluate (é possível, é provável, é pena, é importante) consistently take the subjunctive. Only impersonals that assert (é verdade que, é óbvio que) take the indicative.

Key takeaways

• The present subjunctive is built from the eu form of the present indicative, minus -o, plus swapped vowels. One recipe, one flipped vowel.
• It lives in subordinate clauses after que, triggered by wishes, emotions, doubt, impersonal evaluations, and certain conjunctions.
• Different subjects between clauses is nearly always required — otherwise use an infinitive.
• Most imperative forms are simply the subjunctive in disguise.
• European Portuguese calls this mood conjuntivo; Brazilian Portuguese calls it subjuntivo. The mood is the same; the label differs.

Next steps: dig into the regular forms, then tackle the irregular forms, and once the shapes are comfortable, move on to the trigger pages — starting with wishes and desires.