Living not at home

On Thursday night, at the free Portuguese lessons provided by our local council, the teacher has launched us upon o conjuntivo . Oh conjunctive, you fearsome thing; you sound like an eye infection, you slide over the linguistic border into English shape-shifting into the subjunctive or simply vanishing. Our teacher is good and we understand the broad meaning - present wishes, desires, intentions which may translate into future actions. Here’s three examples:    E melhor que consultes um medico. (It would be better if you saw a doctor.)    Vá de taxi para que não se atrase. (Take a taxi so you’re not late.)    Mesmo que chova, vamos ao futebol. (We’re going to the football even if it rains.) As you can see, there’s no catch-all structure in English which translates the conjuntivo .  In unknown territory, and without a map, it's best to stick to the path. Learn  the model sentences, learn  the phrases that trigger the conjuntivo : hard gr...