Breakdown of Per questa emergenza, è necessario che voi prepariate qualcosa.
essere
to be
questo
this (masculine)
voi
you (plural)
per
for / in order to / because of
Questions & Answers about Per questa emergenza, è necessario che voi prepariate qualcosa.
Why does this sentence use prepariate instead of the normal present tense preparate?
The sentence uses è necessario che (it is necessary that). This is an "impersonal expression" because it doesn't have a specific person as the subject. When an impersonal expression shows necessity, opinion, or emotion and is followed by che, it triggers the subjunctive mood for the next verb. Prepariate is the present subjunctive of preparare.
Could I avoid the subjunctive and just say è necessario preparare?
You can, but it changes the meaning. È necessario preparare qualcosa simply means "It is necessary to prepare something" in a general sense, for anyone. When you want to specify exactly who must do the preparing (in this case, "you all"), you have to use che followed by a conjugated subjunctive verb (che voi prepariate).
Why is the pronoun voi included here? I thought we usually dropped subject pronouns in Italian.
You usually do drop them! In the present subjunctive, the singular forms (io, tu, and lui/lei) are all identical, so speakers often add the pronoun to avoid confusion. However, the voi ending (-iate) is completely unique. Therefore, including voi here is optional and simply adds emphasis, meaning "it is necessary that you all prepare something."
Is there an easy way to remember how to form the conjugation in the present subjunctive?