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Lei vuole che noi adottiamo un animale abbandonato.

Lei vuole che noi adottiamo un animale abbandonato.
She wants us to adopt an abandoned animal.
From Lesson 185:Subjunctive with desires (voglio che…)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Lei vuole che noi adottiamo un animale abbandonato.

Why is the subjunctive used in this sentence?
The verb volere (to want) expresses a desire. When someone wants someone else to do something, Italian requires the phrase volere che followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood. Because "she" wants "us" to do the adopting, this triggers the subjunctive.
Adottiamo looks exactly like the normal present tense. Is it really the subjunctive?
Yes! For all verbs, the noi form in the present subjunctive is absolutely identical to the present indicative (the normal present tense). So while it looks exactly the same as if you were just saying "we adopt," grammatically it is in the subjunctive here because it follows vuole che.
Do we have to include the pronoun noi here, or could we just say che adottiamo?
You can safely drop it and say Lei vuole che adottiamo un animale abbandonato. Subject pronouns are often kept in the subjunctive to clarify who is doing the action, because the io, tu, and lui/lei forms share the exact same endings. However, since the noi form is unique, there is no risk of confusion if you leave it out.
Why does the word for "abandoned" end in -o?
Abbandonato is a past participle being used as an adjective to describe the animal. In Italian, animale is a masculine singular noun, so the describing adjective must agree with it and take the masculine singular -o ending.

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