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É importante que o relatório seja feito antes da reunião.

É importante que o relatório seja feito antes da reunião.
It is important that the report be done before the meeting.
FromLesson 16inHardcore Portuguese (Brazil)

Questions & Answers about É importante que o relatório seja feito antes da reunião.

Why is seja used instead of é (i.e., why the subjunctive)?
Because é importante que... is an expression of necessity/importance and it triggers the present subjunctive in the following clause. So you get que o relatório seja feito (subjunctive) rather than que o relatório é feito (indicative). In English you often use should or a “mandative” structure: It’s important that the report (should) be done....
What exactly is seja feito grammatically?

Seja feito is the present subjunctive of ser (seja) + past participle feito (from fazer). Together they form a passive voice: to be done / to be made.
Active equivalent: É importante que (alguém) faça o relatório... (It’s important that someone does/writes the report...).

Why use passive voice here instead of saying who does it?
Portuguese often uses the passive when the doer is unknown, irrelevant, or intentionally omitted. Que o relatório seja feito focuses on completion of the report, not on who does it. If you want to name the doer, you can add por: ...seja feito pelo João (...be done by João).
Could I replace this with an infinitive, like É importante fazer o relatório...?

Yes, if the subject is generic or understood (like “we/you/one”).

  • É importante fazer o relatório antes da reunião. = It’s important to do the report before the meeting.
    If you want to keep the “that + clause” structure (more formal/explicit), you use que + subjunctive: É importante que o relatório seja feito...
Why is it o relatório and not um relatório?
O relatório refers to a specific, known report (the one relevant to the meeting). Um relatório would mean a report in a more general/unspecified sense. In many workplace contexts, o relatório is natural because everyone knows which report is meant.
What does antes da mean, and why is there a contraction?

Antes de = before (doing something / before a noun phrase).
Here it’s followed by a reunião (the meeting). de + a contracts to da, so:

  • antes de + a reunião → antes da reunião.
Why is it da reunião and not just de reunião?
Because reunião here is definite: it’s the meeting (a specific meeting). So you use the article a (feminine singular), which then contracts with de → da. If you were speaking generically, you might see something like antes de reuniões (before meetings), but that changes the meaning.
Is relatório always masculine, and reunião always feminine?
Yes: o relatório is masculine, a reunião is feminine. That’s why you have o with relatório, and a (→ da) with reunião.
Could I say É importante que o relatório esteja feito instead of seja feito?

It’s possible, but it’s different in nuance.

  • seja feito focuses on the action being carried out (the report getting done).
  • esteja feito focuses on the resulting state (the report being finished/ready).
    In many contexts, seja feito is the more standard choice for “must be done.”
Is feito the same as fatto/hecho—why not use a regular past participle?
Feito is the irregular past participle of fazer (to do/make). Many common Portuguese verbs have irregular participles (e.g., escrever → escrito, ver → visto). You simply memorize them; you can’t form fazido in modern standard Portuguese.
How would I pronounce the key parts in Brazilian Portuguese?

A rough guide (varies by region):

  • É importante: /eh im-por-TAN-chi/ (final -te often sounds like -chi)
  • que: /kee/
  • relatório: /he-la-TO-ryu/ (initial r often like an English h)
  • seja: /SE-zhah/
  • reunião: /he-oo-nee-ÃO/ (nasal -ão, like a nasalized “ow”)
Can the word order change—like putting antes da reunião earlier?

Yes. Portuguese is flexible with adverbial phrases like antes da reunião. For emphasis you can move it:

  • É importante que, antes da reunião, o relatório seja feito. (more formal, with commas)
  • Antes da reunião, é importante que o relatório seja feito. (fronting the time phrase for emphasis)
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