Pretende o que quiseres

Hi, one of the expressions in my Smart Review is “Pretende o que quiseres” - Intend whatever you like. I’m not sure I understand the grammar, because Pretende is formal and quiseres is not. Can someone break it down and explain?

Thanks :slight_smile:

@jonatas, this sentence is a command, so it starts off with the imperative mood, not the indicative mood - I believe this is the root of your confusion. Pretende is the informal 2nd-person singular conjugation of this imperative mood, while quiseres is in the future subjunctive. If the sentence were formal (using você), it would be worded as Pretenda o que quiser :slight_smile:

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OK, thank you. Now that I understand the grammar, can you explain what’s the nuanced meaning of this sentence? Is it dismissive of the listener like “Plan whatever you want but I’m not cooperating”, or is it more encouraging like “You can do whatever you want in life”?

Although correct, this is not an everyday sentence, it’s more for practicing purposes. The sentence per se is neutral, so it could go in either direction, depending on the context and tone that is used :slight_smile: