Breakdown of Diz à tua irmã que venha jantar.
a irmã
the sister
o jantar
the dinner
dizer
to say
vir
to come
que
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Diz à tua irmã que venha jantar.
Why use Diz instead of Diga?
Diz is the informal command (imperative) for tu. We know we need to use the informal form here because the sentence later uses tua (your informal). If you were speaking to someone formally (você), the sentence would be Diga à sua irmã que venha jantar.
Why is there a grave accent on the à before tua irmã?
That à is a contraction of the preposition a (to) and the feminine definite article a (the). You say things to someone (a), and European Portuguese usually requires the definite article before possessives (a tua irmã). When you combine a + a, you get à.
The English translation says "to come", so why does the Portuguese say "que venha"?
In English, we use the infinitive ("to come") for indirect commands, but Portuguese uses que (that) followed by the subjunctive mood. When verbs of communication like dizer (to say/tell) are used to give an order or request, they trigger the subjunctive. If you were just reporting a fact ("She says she is coming"), you would use the normal present tense: Diz que vem.
Is venha the subjunctive of vir (to come) or ir (to go)?
Venha is the present subjunctive of vir (to come). These two irregular verbs are easy to mix up! For comparison, if you wanted to tell her to go somewhere else, you would use the present subjunctive of ir (to go), which is vá.
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