Obedeças

Obedeças is a Portuguese verb form, specifically the second person singular present subjunctive of obedecer, meaning “you obey.” It is used in subordinate clauses that express wishes, doubts, possibilities, or requirements, and often appears after conjunctions such as que or para que. For example: quero que tu obedeças às regras (I want you to obey the rules).

Linguistic background and morphology: obedecer comes from Latin obedire (ob- plus audire, “to hear toward”), and the present subjunctive forms vary by person. In the tu form the form is obedeças, while you (você) would typically use obedeça in many varieties of Portuguese. In formal or regional usage, the subjunctive may shift slightly, but obedeças remains the standard second-person singular present subjunctive form in contexts that preserve the tu conjugation.

Usage and regional variation: The form obedeças is most common in contexts that address a direct informal subject using tu, such as in parts of Portugal and Brazil where the tú form is still heard. In Brazilian standard speech, you more often encounter the corresponding form obedeça when addressing você. The verb’s subjunctive mood is contrasted with the imperative (obedece, for tu; obedeça, for você) and with the indicative or other moods in different sentence structures.

Related terms: The noun obediência refers to obedience as a quality or behavior. Related verb forms include obedeço (eu), obedeces (tu), and obedece (ele/ela/você) in the present indicative, as well as other subjunctive and imperative forms used across registers and dialects.

In summary, obedeças is a present subjunctive form used to express wishes, instructions, or hypothetical actions directed at a second-person singular subject in certain Portuguese varieties.