Breakdown of O especialista recomenda que aceitemos o diagnóstico.
que
that (conjunction)
aceitar
to accept
recomendar
to recommend
o especialista
the specialist
Questions & Answers about O especialista recomenda que aceitemos o diagnóstico.
Why do we use aceitemos instead of the indicative aceitamos?
The main verb recomenda (recommends) acts as a trigger. Verbs of suggestion, recommendation, or ordering (like sugerir or recomendar) express influence over someone else's actions. When followed by que, they strictly require the verb in the dependent clause to be in the subjunctive mood.
If the specialist recommended (past tense) it, how would the tense of aceitemos change?
If the main verb shifts to the past tense (O especialista recomendou), the tense agreement rules for reported speech require the dependent verb to shift to the imperfect subjunctive. The sentence would become: O especialista recomendou que aceitássemos o diagnóstico.
Is it always necessary to include que here? In English we often just say 'The specialist recommends we accept...'.
Yes, in Portuguese, you cannot drop the conjunction que when linking a main clause to a subordinate clause. While English allows you to omit the word 'that', Portuguese strictly requires que before the subjunctive verb.
Especialista ends in '-a'. How do we know if it is masculine or feminine here?