Breakdown of O que quer que descubras, o documento é confidencial.
ser
to be
o documento
the document
descobrir
to discover
o que quer que
whatever
confidencial
confidential
Questions & Answers about O que quer que descubras, o documento é confidencial.
Why do we use the subjunctive verb descubras here?
The phrase o que quer que (whatever) sets up a hypothetical or unknown situation—we don't know yet what you will discover. In Portuguese, indefinite expressions ending in -quer que always force the following verb into the subjunctive mood.
What is the literal breakdown of the phrase O que quer que?
It literally breaks down to "the what [it] wants that". O que is "what", quer is the third-person singular of querer (to want), and the final que is the conjunction "that" connecting to the next verb. Together, they form a fixed expression meaning "whatever".
Descobrir has an 'o' in the infinitive, so why is it spelled with a 'u' in descubras?
The present subjunctive is built from the eu form of the present indicative. For descobrir, that form is eu descubro (which has a stem change from 'o' to 'u'). To make the subjunctive, you drop the 'o' and add the opposite endings for an -ir verb, resulting in descubras for the tu form.
Why doesn't the subjunctive carry over to the second clause (o documento é confidencial)?
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