Learn Portuguese (Portugal): É necessário que o supervisor respeite o regulamento rigoroso. - It is necessary that the supervisor respect the strict regulation.

The phrase É necessário que (It is necessary that) expresses a requirement or necessity. In Portuguese, impersonal expressions of necessity followed by que always force the verb in the following clause to be in the subjunctive mood. Because of this trigger, respeitar becomes respeite.

How do we form the present subjunctive for a regular '-ar' verb like respeitar?

To form the present subjunctive for regular verbs ending in '-ar', you generally swap the usual '-a' vowel sounds for '-e' endings. You take the 'eu' form of the present indicative (respeito), drop the '-o', and add the subjunctive endings. For o supervisor (the ele/ela form), the ending is '-e', giving us respeite.

Is there a way to express this exact necessity without using the subjunctive?

Yes! If you drop the word que, you can use the infinitive instead. You could say: É necessário o supervisor respeitar o regulamento rigoroso. Both sentences mean the same thing. Remember the golden rule for these expressions: using que requires the subjunctive, while dropping que allows you to use the infinitive.

Why does the adjective rigoroso come after regulamento?