Breakdown of É bom que todos possam fazer perguntas e escolher a melhor ideia juntos.
Questions & Answers about É bom que todos possam fazer perguntas e escolher a melhor ideia juntos.
É bom que is a very common impersonal structure in Portuguese meaning “It’s good that …” followed by a full clause.
- É bom que + subjunctive = It’s good that … (someone does something)
- É bom todos poderem… (with infinitive poderem) is also possible and natural, but it feels a bit more informal and slightly less “textbook”.
So you could also hear:
- É bom todos poderem fazer perguntas…
But É bom que todos possam… is the more standard, “correct-sounding” version, especially in writing and more formal speech.
Possam is the present subjunctive of poder.
In Portuguese, after value judgments like:
- É bom que… (It’s good that…)
- É importante que… (It’s important that…)
- É melhor que… (It’s better that…)
you almost always use the subjunctive, not the indicative.
So:
- ❌ É bom que todos podem fazer… (wrong)
- ✅ É bom que todos possam fazer… (correct – subjunctive)
The subjunctive here shows a kind of evaluation / wish / recommendation, not a neutral statement of fact.
Possam is:
- Verb: poder (to be able / can)
- Tense/mood: present subjunctive
- Person: 3rd person plural (they)
Mini conjugation of poder in the present subjunctive:
- (que) eu possa
- (que) você / ele / ela possa
- (que) nós possamos
- (que) vocês / eles / elas possam
In the sentence, possam agrees with todos (everyone / all of them).
The structure is: possam + [infinitive verbs]
- possam fazer = may be able to ask
- (possam) escolher = [may be able to] choose
Once you have possam, any following main action typically stays in the infinitive:
- possam fazer perguntas (can ask questions)
- [possam] fazer perguntas e escolher a melhor ideia (can ask questions and choose the best idea)
You don’t repeat possam before escolher; it is understood:
- possam fazer perguntas e [possam] escolher… → shortened to just possam fazer perguntas e escolher…
Both are correct, but there’s a nuance:
- perguntar = to ask (usually 1 or a specific question)
- fazer perguntas = literally “to make questions”, i.e., to ask questions in general / freely
In context:
- É bom que todos possam fazer perguntas…
→ It suggests an open environment where people can ask any questions they want, not just a single one.
You could say:
- É bom que todos possam perguntar.
This is grammatically correct, but it sounds a bit more limited or abstract than fazer perguntas, which is the more idiomatic expression here.
Fazer perguntas in the plural is the usual collocation for “ask questions” in general.
- fazer perguntas = to ask questions (in general / possibly many)
- fazer uma pergunta = to ask one question
- fazer pergunta (without uma) sounds incomplete or wrong in standard Portuguese.
So in this context “everyone being able to ask questions”, the plural perguntas is the natural choice.
In this sentence, todos means “everyone” / “all (of them)”.
- todos can mean “all” when the group is clear from context:
- Todos chegaram cedo. = Everyone arrived early.
Here, todos is the subject of possam:
- É bom que todos possam… = It’s good that everyone can…
Portuguese uses masculine plural as the default for mixed or unknown gender groups.
- todas = all (feminine group only)
- todos = all (masculine group OR mixed group OR generic “everyone”)
So unless you know the group is only women, you normally use todos.
Yes, very natural in Brazilian Portuguese.
- É bom que todo mundo possa fazer perguntas…
Notes:
- todo mundo is grammatically singular:
- todo mundo possa (not possam)
- It’s more informal / conversational than todos, but extremely common in Brazil.
In Portuguese, superlatives like “the best” are usually formed with the definite article:
- a melhor ideia = the best idea
- uma ideia melhor = a better idea (comparative, not superlative)
Without the article, melhor ideia would sound incomplete in this position. The a is needed to express “the best” among the options the group has.
Melhor can mean both “better” (comparative) and “best” (superlative), depending on context and articles:
Esta ideia é melhor que aquela.
→ This idea is better than that one.Esta é a melhor ideia.
→ This is the best idea.
In your sentence, a melhor ideia clearly means “the best idea” in the group.
Before the 2009 spelling reform, the correct spelling in Brazil was idéia (with an accent).
After the orthographic reform:
- ideia (no accent) is the correct modern spelling.
So:
- idéia = old spelling (still seen in older books, but now considered outdated)
- ideia = current standard spelling in Brazil and Portugal.
Juntos is the plural form and agrees with todos (they are together):
- junto (masc. sing.) = together (one person) / near
- juntos (masc. pl.) = together (more than one person)
In your sentence, many people are acting together, so:
- É bom que todos possam… escolher a melhor ideia juntos.
→ It’s good that everyone can… choose the best idea together.
If it were just one person:
- É bom que ele possa trabalhar junto com a equipe.
Yes, that’s also natural:
- …possam fazer perguntas e escolher juntos a melhor ideia.
Both are acceptable:
- escolher a melhor ideia juntos
- escolher juntos a melhor ideia
The meaning is the same. The most common spot is usually right after the verb or after the object, and in this sentence both flows well.