Future subjunctive: forms

What it is

The futuro do subjuntivo (future subjunctive) is a tense that English and modern Spanish don’t have, but Brazilians use it every day. It appears after se (if) and quando (when) when you talk about something that may or will happen later:

• Se você puder, me liga. (If you can, call me.)
• Quando eu tiver tempo, vou te visitar. (When I have time, I’ll visit you.)

English uses the present here ("if you can", "when I have"); Spanish uses the present or the present subjunctive (si puedes, cuando tenga). Portuguese has its own form. This topic is about building it; pt-g-056 covers all its uses (assim que, enquanto, quem quiser…).

How to form it

Start from the 3rd-person plural of the pretérito perfeito, the "they" form of the past you learned in pt-g-028. Drop -ram and add -r, -rmos or -rem:

For regular verbs the result looks exactly like the infinitive: falar, comer, abrir. In Se você comer tudo… the verb is conjugated even though it looks like an infinitive; only nós (comermos) and vocês (comerem) give it away.

Irregular verbs: the preterite stem does the work

Every verb that is irregular in the preterite is irregular here, in exactly the same way. If you know eles fizeram, you already know fizer:

Ser and ir share for, just as they share foram: Se for preciso… (ser), Se a gente for à praia… (ir). Context tells them apart. Haver (there is) only uses houver: Se houver algum problema…

Accents and spelling

The endings carry no written accent: fizermos, tivermos, formos. The only accents appear in verbs like sair and cair, whose stem ends in a vowel: saírem, caírem (but sair, sairmos). The x of trouxer sounds like s.

Try a few before reading on:

Where you will meet it

• se + a future possibility: Se chover, a gente fica em casa. Se vocês quiserem, podem dormir aqui.
• quando + a future event: Quando você chegar, me avisa.
• Everyday set phrases: se der (if it works out), se for o caso (if that’s the case), se Deus quiser (God willing), quando puder (whenever you can), se precisar (if you need anything).

The main clause is usually in the present, in the ir + infinitive future or in the imperative: Se der, eu passo aí. Quando eu tiver tempo, vou te visitar. Se você puder, me liga.

Contrasts and traps

• ver vs vir. The two verbs cross over. Ver (to see) → viram → vir, virmos, virem; vir (to come) → vieram → vier, viermos, vierem. Se eu vir a Thaís = if I see Thaís; Se a Thaís vier = if Thaís comes.
• "Se eu ver". In casual speech many Brazilians say se eu ver, quando você fazer, se ele trazer, using the infinitive shape. It is widespread but non-standard: write se eu vir, quando você fizer, se ele trouxer.
• Future subjunctive vs infinitive. For regular verbs they look the same (falar), for irregular verbs they don’t: para eu fazer (infinitive) but quando eu fizer.
• Not the present. Se eu tenho tempo amanhã and quando você pode sound wrong for a future event: say se eu tiver tempo amanhã, quando você puder. For habits the present is right: Quando chove, a rua alaga (more in pt-g-056).
• Not the future indicative. Quando eu terei tempo is wrong, even though French says quand j’aurai.

If you speak Spanish

Spanish lost this tense (it survives only in legal phrases like el que hiciere), so your instinct will reach for the present subjunctive after cuando and the present after si: cuando pueda → quando eu puder, not possa; cuando llegues → quando você chegar, not chegue; si tienes tiempo mañana → se você tiver tempo amanhã, not tem. The good news is that the stems are the Spanish preterite ones: hicieron → fizeram → fizer, tuvieron → tiveram → tiver, pudieron → puderam → puder.