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É importante que você estude muito hoje.

É importante que você estude muito hoje.
It is important that you study a lot today.
FromLesson 16inHardcore Portuguese (Brazil)

Breakdown of É importante que você estude muito hoje.

ser
to be
você
you
hoje
today
estudar
to study
importante
important
que
that
muito
very/much

Questions & Answers about É importante que você estude muito hoje.

Why does the sentence start with É? What does é mean here?

É is the 3rd person singular present tense of ser (to be). Here it functions like English It is in It is important that...
Portuguese often omits an explicit subject like it, so É importante... naturally means It’s important....

Why is it importante and not something like importanto or importanta?

Importante is an adjective with one form for both masculine and feminine in Portuguese (a “two-ending” adjective would change, but this one doesn’t).
So you get:

  • Ele é importante. (He is important.)
  • Ela é importante. (She is important.)
  • É importante... (It is important...)
What is que doing here?

Que introduces a clause: que você estude muito hoje.
In English you’d often use that: It’s important that you study a lot today.
In Portuguese, que is very common and usually not optional in this structure.

Why is it estude and not estuda?

Because É importante que... triggers the present subjunctive in Portuguese.

  • Você estuda = indicative (a statement of fact: You study / you are studying).
  • Que você estude = subjunctive (a recommendation/importance/necessity: that you study).

So É importante que você estude... expresses importance/necessity rather than stating a fact.

How do I know estude is subjunctive? What verb is it from?

Estude is the present subjunctive form of estudar for você/ele/ela.
Conjugation (present subjunctive of estudar):

  • que eu estude
  • que você/ele/ela estude
  • que nós estudemos
  • que vocês/eles/elas estudem
Why is você used, and is this formal or informal?

In most of Brazil, você is the default you in everyday speech (neutral to informal depending on region and context).
It takes 3rd-person singular verb forms: você estude (not estudes).

Some regions use tu more. Then you might see:

  • É importante que tu estudes muito hoje. (more common where tu
    • -es is used) or colloquially in some places:
  • É importante que tu estude... (tu with 3rd-person verb is common in parts of Brazil)
Could I say É importante você estudar muito hoje instead?

Yes, and it’s very common in Brazilian Portuguese.

  • É importante que você estude... = more explicitly uses the subjunctive clause.
  • É importante você estudar... = uses an infinitive structure (for you to study).

Both are natural; the infinitive version often sounds slightly more conversational/simple.

What does muito modify here, and where can it go?

Here muito means a lot and modifies the verb estude (study a lot).
This placement is very natural: estude muito.

You can sometimes move it for emphasis, but the most common is:

  • ...que você estude muito hoje.
Why is hoje at the end? Could it go earlier?

Putting hoje at the end is very typical and sounds natural.
You can move it, and the meaning stays basically the same, though the focus shifts a bit:

  • É importante que você estude muito hoje. (neutral)
  • Hoje é importante que você estude muito. (strong focus on today)
  • É importante que você hoje estude muito. (possible but less natural in everyday speech)
Do I need a comma after importante?

No. In Portuguese you normally don’t use a comma between É importante and the que-clause.
So: É importante que você estude muito hoje. (correct)

How would I negate this sentence?

You typically negate the verb in the subordinate clause:

  • É importante que você não estude tão pouco hoje. (It’s important that you don’t study so little today.)
    Or more directly:
  • É importante que você não deixe de estudar hoje. (It’s important that you don’t fail to study today.)

If you want to negate the idea of importance:

  • Não é importante que você estude muito hoje. (It’s not important that you study a lot today.)
How is this pronounced (roughly), especially É and estude?

A rough Brazilian pronunciation guide:

  • É sounds like eh (open e).
  • importante ≈ im-por-TAHN-tchee (final te often sounds like tchi in many accents).
  • você ≈ vo-SEH.
  • estude ≈ es-TOO-djee (final de often sounds like djee).
  • hoje ≈ OH-zhy (the j is like the s in measure).
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