Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O que quer que ouças na escuta, não podes dizer ao inimigo. - Whatever you hear on the wiretap, you cannot tell the enemy.

The phrase O que quer que means whatever and introduces an indefinite relative clause. Because the exact thing you might hear is unknown or hypothetical, it triggers the subjunctive mood. The word ouças is the present subjunctive of ouvir for the tu form.

What is the literal breakdown of the phrase O que quer que?

It literally translates to English as the what it wants that. It is a fixed structure used to mean whatever. You will also see variations in this lesson like quem quer que for whoever and onde quer que for wherever, all of which require the subjunctive for the verb that follows them.

What does escuta mean in this context?

While escuta is often the third-person singular of the verb escutar, meaning to listen, here it acts as a feminine noun, a escuta. In police or espionage contexts, uma escuta refers to a wiretap, a bug, or the act of monitoring communications.

The English translation implies you cannot tell it to the enemy, so why doesn't the Portuguese sentence have a word for it?

In Portuguese, it is very common to drop the direct object pronoun if the context makes it obvious. Since O que quer que ouças already establishes what should not be told, Portuguese just says não podes dizer ao inimigo rather than explicitly adding a pronoun to make it não o podes dizer.