Comparative Grammar 5.5. Present Subjunctive Tense & Future Subjunctive Tense in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, & French

In this comparative grammar lesson of Romance languages, we study the present subjunctive and future subjunctive tense in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, & French. We discussed some of the uses of the subjunctive mood in Level IV, Lesson 5, mainly expressing opinions, possibilities, desires, wishes, feelings, and requests. Here, we will cover other cases in which the subjunctive mood ought to be used. We will also cover two cases in which Portuguese uniquely uses the future subjunctive tense, whereas Spanish, Italian, and French use the present subjunctive tense.

Table of Contents

• The Expressions “Ojalá” in Spanish & “Oxalá” in Portuguese
• More Expressions that use the Subjunctive
• Expressions with Some Conjunctions ending in “-que”
• Superlative Expressions with “that” followed by a Verb
• Expressions meaning “Although” or “Despite (that)”
• Future Subjunctive in Portuguese
  • 1. Time Expressions in the Future
  • 2. Relative Pronouns Hinting at Possibility in the Future
• Level V – Advanced

The Expressions “Ojalá” in Spanish & “Oxalá” in Portuguese

The expressions “ojalá” in Spanish and “oxalá” in Portuguese are derived from the Arabic influence on Spanish and Portuguese and are used to express hope that something would happen or would have happened. We will cover the use of these two expressions in the present subjunctive, which can be translated roughly as “hopefully” to express hope for something to happen in the present or the future, for example:

SP	Ojalá (que) no llueva esta noche.	Hopefully, it won’t rain tonight.
PT	Oxalá (que) não chova esta noite.
SP	Ojalá (que) mi hermano venga hoy.	Hopefully, my brother will come today.
PT	Oxalá (que) meu irmão venha hoje.

“Ojalá” and “oxalá” can also be used to express hope that something has happened or would have happened in the past. We will cover that in the lessons to come with the imperfect and perfect subjunctive.

An alternative to “oxalá” that is more common in Brazilian Portuguese is “tomara.” For example:

Tomara que não chova esta noite.	Hopefully, it won’t rain tonight.
Tomara que meu irmão venha hoje.	Hopefully, my brother will come today.

More Expressions that use the Subjunctive

It is really hard to include all expressions that use the subjunctive in this limited space. However, a few expressions are still worth mentioning as we are likely to encounter them more frequently. Notice that most of these expressions end with “que” in Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and “che” in Italian.

Here are some expressions that often use the subjective:

SP	PT	IT	FR	EN
para que a fin de que	para que a fim de que	affinché perché in modo che	afin que pour que	so that, in order that
mientras que siempre que con tal de que	contanto que desde que	purché a patto che sempre che	pourvu que	provided (that), as long as
a menos que	a menos que	a meno che	à moins que	unless
sin que	sem que	senza che	sans que	without (that)
antes de que	antes de que	prima che	avant que	before (that)

Notice that, in Portuguese, time expressions like “before” or “as soon as” that describe an action in the future, especially one that is plausible and likely to happen, use the future subjunctive, which will be covered at the end of this lesson.

Here are some examples:

SP	Dame la llave para que pueda entrar.	Give me the key so that he can get in.
PT	Dê-me a chave para que ele possa entrar.
IT	Dammi la chiave in modo che possa entrare.
FR	Donnez-moi la clé pour qu’il puisse entrer.
SP	Mientras que el café sea bueno, lo tomaré.	As long as the coffee is good, I’ll drink it.
PT	Contanto que o café esteja bom, eu beberei.
IT	Purché il caffè sia buono, lo berrò.
FR	Pourvu que le café soit bon, je le boirai.
SP	A menos que tengas bastante dinero, será difícil vivir aquí.	Unless you have enough money, it will be difficult to live here.
PT	A menos que você tenha muito dinheiro, será difícil morar aqui.
IT	A meno che tu (non) abbia molti soldi, sarà difficile vivere qui.
FR	À moins que vous ayez assez d’argent, il sera difficile de vivre ici.
SP	Dejaré la llave sin que él la vea.	I will leave the key without him seeing.
PT	Vou deixar a chave sem que ele veja.
IT	Lascerò la chiave senza che lui veda.
FR	Je laisserai la clé sans qu’il la voie.

Notice that, in Italian, the “non” after “a meno che” is redundant and does not affect the meaning of “unless.”

Expressions with Some Conjunctions ending in “-que”

Some conjunctions as “whatever,” “whenever,” “wherever,” “whoever,” etc., convey the meaning of “any” and require the use of the present subjunctive in Spanish, Italian, and French. In Portuguese, these expressions require the use of the future subjunctive as we will discuss later in this lesson. Examples of these conjunctions include:

SP	cualquiera que (sea)	any, whatever, whichever (it is)
PT	qualquer que (seja)
IT	qualsiasi (sia), qualunque (sia)
FR	quel que (soit)
SP	quienquiera que (sea)	whoever (it is)
PT	quem quer que (seja)
IT	chiunque (sia)
FR	qui que (ce soit)
SP	dondequiera que (estés)	wherever (you are)
PT	onde quer que (esteja)
IT	dovunque (tu sia)
FR	où que (tu sois)

Let us take examples with these conjunctions:

SP	Cualquiera que prefieran, pueden tomarlo.	Whichever they prefer, they can take.
IT	Qualunque cosa preferiscano, possono prenderla.
FR	Quel que soit leur choix (whatever their choice is), ils peuvent le prendre.
SP	Te encontraré dondequiera que estés ahora mismo.	I will meet you wherever you are right now.
IT	Ti incontrerò dovunque tu sia in questo momento.
FR	Je vous rencontrerai où que vous soyez en ce moment.

Superlative Expressions with “that” followed by a Verb

In Italian and French, if a superlative expression has a verb in the subordinate clause that follows “that,” the verb should be in the subjunctive. For example:

IT	È la persona più onesta che conosca.	He is the most honest person that I know.
FR	C’est la personne la plus honnête que je connaisse.
IT	Questo è il massimo che tu possa fare.	This is the best that you can do.
FR	C’est le maximum que vous puissiez faire.

Expressions meaning “Although” or “Despite (that)”

All the following conjunctions mean “although,” “even though,” or “despite (that).” Take this example “He travels a lot although he is not rich”:

SP	aunque	Viaja mucho aunque no es rico.
	si bien	Viaja mucho si bien no es rico.
PT	embora	Ele viaja muito embora não seja rico.
	ainda que	Ele viaja muito ainda que não seja rico.
	mesmo que	Ele viaja muito mesmo que não seja rico.
	se bem que	Ele viaja muito se bem que não é rico.
IT	benché	Viaggia molto benché non sia ricco.
	sebbene	Viaggia molto sebbene non sia ricco.
	malgrado	Viaggia molto malgrado non sia ricco.
	nonostante	Viaggia molto nonostante non sia ricco.
	anche se	Viaggia molto anche se non è ricco.
FR	bien que	Il voyage beaucoup bien qu’il ne soit pas riche.
	malgré que	Il voyage beaucoup malgré qu’il ne soit pas riche.
	quoique	Il voyage beaucoup quoiqu’il ne soit pas riche.
	encore que	Il voyage beaucoup encore qu’il ne soit pas riche.
	même si	Il voyage beaucoup même s’il n’est pas riche.

Notice that, in Spanish, we use the indicative mood. In Portuguese, Italian, and French, we use the subjunctive except when “se bem que” in Portuguese, “anche se” in Italian, or “même si” in French, is used, which require the use of the indicative.

In Spanish, “aunque” conveys the meaning of “even if” when followed by the subjunctive, for example:

Aunque no quiera comer, iré al café contigo.	Even if I don’t want to eat, I will go to the café with you.
Aunque haga mucho ejercicio, no bajo de peso.	Even if I exercise a lot, I don’t lose weight.

Notice that only “aunque,” and not “si bien,” can be used in these examples, followed by the subjunctive.

In Portuguese, although not very common, “se bem que” is used sometimes in the subjunctive in formal writing only.

The conjunctions “a pesar de” in Spanish and “apesar de”  in Portuguese mean “despite” or “in spite of,” which can be used in one of three formulas:

1. A pesar de/Apesar de + Infinitive, for example:

SP	A pesar de estar cansado, quiero salir con mis amigos.	In spite of being tired, I want to go out with my friends.
PT	Apesar de estar cansado, quero sair com meus amigos.

• A pesar de/Apesar de + Noun, for example:

SP	A pesar de las advertencias, Ana sigue fumando.	Despite the warnings, Ana continues to smoke.
PT	Apesar dos avisos, Ana continua fumando.

• A pesar de que/Apesar de que + Indicative Tense, for example:

SP	A pesar de que estoy triste, voy a celebrar mi cumpleaños.	Despite the fact that I am sad, I will celebrate my birthday.
PT	Apesar de que estou triste, vou comemorar meu aniversário.

In Italian, another possible conjunction that conveys the same meaning is “pur” which is often followed by the gerund. For example:

Viaggia molto pur non essendo ricco.

He travels a lot despite not being rich.

Future Subjunctive in Portuguese

Here, we cover cases in which the future tense in the subjunctive mood ought to be used in Portuguese. The future subjunctive is used mainly in time clauses that indicate a likely scenario in the future. Similar sentences often use the present subjunctive in Spanish, Italian, and French.

Before we dive into use cases, let us first learn how to conjugate verbs in the future subjunctive.

The stem used to form the future subjunctive conjugation comes from the third-person plural form of the preterite rather than the infinitive, that is, the preterite that follows “eles” or “elas” minus the final “-am,” for example:

Infinitive	Third-person plural preterite	Future subjunctive stem
falar	eles/elas falaram	falar-
comer	eles/elas comeram	comer-
partir	eles/elas partiram	partir-

Next, the ending “-mos” is attached to the stem in the “nós” form, and the ending “-em” is attached to the stem in the third-person plural forms. Notice that all single forms do not have any endings. All verbs follow these conjugation rules, and there are no irregular verbs in the future subjunctive.

	-ar ending e.g., falar	-er ending e.g., comer	-ir ending e.g., partir
eu	falar	comer	partir
ele/ela/você	falar	comer	partir
nós	falarmos	comermos	partirmos
eles/elas/vocês	falarem	comerem	partirem

You may notice that the conjugation of all the single forms in the examples above are equivalent to the infinitive. This is true as long as the verb is regular in the preterite tense. If the verb is irregular in the preterite, the conjugation of the single forms is different from the infinitive. Here are some examples:

	ir, ser “eles foram”	estar “eles estiveram”	fazer “eles fizeram”
eu	for	estiver	fizer
ele/ela/você	for	estiver	fizer
nós	formos	estivermos	fizermos
eles/elas/vocês	forem	estiverem	fizerem

1. Time Expressions in the Future

Let us examine the following time expressions:

se	if
quando	when
assim que, logo que, tão logo	as soon as
até que	until
antes de que	before
depois de que	after

When one of the above expressions is used in the present or the past, we use the indicative, for example:

Vi meu irmão quando cheguei em casa.	I saw my brother when I arrived home.
Eu leio o e-mail assim que o recebo.	I read the email as soon as I receive it.
Enviei o pacote depois que eles me pagaram.	I sent the parcel after they paid me.

However, if used to describe an action in the future, especially one that is plausible and likely to happen, the sentence after the above time expressions shall be in the future subjunctive:

Verei meu irmão quando chegar em casa.	I will see my brother when I arrive home.
Lerei o e-mail assim que o receber.	I will read the email as soon as I receive it.
Enviarei o pacote depois que eles me pagarem.	I will send the parcel after they pay me.

Notice that clauses after the conditional “if” can fall under this category if the meaning implies likely action in the future. For example:

Ficarei em casa se chover hoje.	I will stay home if it rains today.
Se tivermos tempo, iremos à praia.	If we have time, we will go to the beach.

2. Relative Pronouns Hinting at Possibility in the Future

Some conjunctions such as “whatever,” “whenever,” “wherever,” “whoever,” etc., hint at the possibility of an event in the future. In Portuguese, relative pronouns are often used in this context. The clause following the relative pronoun in such sentences is often in the future subjunctive. Examples of these relative pronouns and conjunctions that can be used to convey meaning include:

que	whatever
qualquer que	whatever, whichever
quem	whoever
onde	wherever
como	no matter how

Here are some examples in context:

Qualquer que eles preferirem, eles podem pegar.	Whichever they prefer, they can take.
Eu poderia convidar quem você quiser para a reunião.	I could invite whoever you want to the meeting.
Eu te encontrarei onde você estiver agora.	I will meet you wherever you are right now.
Faça o que fizermos, não será suficiente.	Whatever we do, it won’t be enough.

Next: Perfect Subjunctive Tense

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