ABSTRACT
In this paper, we describe the properties of Brazilian Portuguese sentences formed with past subjunctive verbs in matrix sentences without any licensing elements. We argue that those sentences are a type of past imperative, characterized by the feature [counterfactual]. We discuss a relationship between imperative sentences and grammatical tense (mainly within the theoretical framework of Generative Grammar) and also compare this structure with other sentential types from French, English, Dutch, and Spanish, which have also been described as imperatives directed to the past.
Keywords:
imperative sentences; past imperatives; Brazilian Portuguese; syntax-semantics interface