Subjunctive after wishes, requests & emotions

What it is

In pt-g-050 you learned to build the present subjunctive. This topic is about its most frequent home: a clause with que after a verb or expression of wanting, asking or feeling. The logic is simple. When you want, ask for or feel something about someone else’s action, that action goes into the subjunctive:

• Quero que você venha. I want you to come.
• Peço que vocês esperem um pouco. Please wait a little.
• Que pena que ela não possa ficar! What a shame she can’t stay!

The subjunctive marks the action as wished for, requested or reacted to, not stated as a fact.

How to form it

The pattern has four parts: trigger + que + a new subject + present subjunctive.

The triggers

Same subject: use the infinitive

If the person who wants is also the person who acts, Portuguese uses the infinitive, just like English I want to go:

• Quero ir. (not Quero que eu vá)
• Prefiro ficar em casa.
• Espero passar na prova. But: Espero que você passe.
• Tenho medo de perder o ônibus.

The test is quick: count the subjects. One subject → infinitive. Two subjects → que + subjunctive.

Try it now:

When to use it

Wishes. Querer que and preferir que are everyday verbs; desejar que belongs to cards and toasts (Desejamos que vocês sejam muito felizes). Tomara que is the Brazilian "let’s hope" or "fingers crossed": Tomara que dê tempo! Because tomara has no subject of its own, it always takes que + subjunctive, even when you talk about yourself: Tomara que eu passe! Oxalá means the same, but it sounds literary or religious; you will read it more often than you hear it.

Requests and advice. Pedir que and sugerir que are neutral and polite; exigir que is strong; mandar que is formal (in speech people say mandar + infinitive, see pt-g-069). Everyday requests are often shorter: Pedi pra ele trazer o carregador (pedir pra + infinitive). That pattern uses the personal infinitive, which comes in pt-g-060.

Feelings. Fico feliz que você esteja aqui. Que pena que vocês não possam ficar. Tenho medo de que chova. In writing these always take the subjunctive. In relaxed speech, when the fact is already known, many Brazilians use the indicative: Que bom que você está melhor! You will hear both; the subjunctive is always safe. With medo, speech often drops the de: tenho medo que…

Good wishes on their own. Que + subjunctive with no main verb: Que você tenha um ótimo dia! Que dê tudo certo!

Contrasts and traps

• One subject or two? Quero sair (I leave) vs Quero que você saia (you leave). Quero que eu saia is wrong.
• Wishing vs knowing. Espero que ele venha takes the subjunctive, but Sei que ele vem takes the indicative: knowing states a fact.
• No "want you to + verb". "I want you to come" is Quero que você venha, never Quero você vir.
• Pronouns stay before the verb after que, even in formal writing: Peço que o senhor me envie o contrato, not envie-me.
• Tomara que, always with the subjunctive: Tomara que dê certo, not dá.

If you speak Spanish

The triggers and the logic are the same as in Spanish (quiero que vengas = quero que você venha), so focus on vocabulary and forms. Ojalá becomes tomara que. Spanish forms slip in easily: sea, venga, pueda, haga → seja, venha, possa, faça. The tú forms don’t apply: você takes the 3rd person (que você venha), and its reflexive pronoun is se (que você se preocupe, not te preocupe).