Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Submetemos o projeto a fim de que o comité o aprove. - We submit the project so that the committee approves it.

You must use a fim de que when the subject of the second action is different from the first. Here, "we" submit the project (submetemos), but "the committee" (o comité) is the one doing the approving. If the subject were the exact same for both verbs, you would simply use a fim de followed by the infinitive.

Why is the verb aprove in the subjunctive mood?

Purpose conjunctions like a fim de que always trigger the subjunctive. This is because they express an intention or a desired goal (that the committee approves it), rather than a declared fact—the approval is just a hope or plan, and hasn't actually happened yet.

Why is the object pronoun o placed before the verb in o aprove?

In European Portuguese, subordinate clauses introduced by a conjunction like que act as a "magnet," pulling the object pronoun immediately before the verb (a rule called proclisis). Because of the que in a fim de que, the pronoun o (which replaces o projeto) is forced to sit before aprove.

Could I just use para que instead of a fim de que?