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- "Vuoi che faccia il caffè?"
22 Comments
You're right - the subjunctive doesn't have to do with politeness, but rather with the fact that the speaker is discussing a wish, a desire, a belief or something else similar. In this case, "do you want that I/he/she make coffee?" (to be perhaps over-literal). A nearly sure sign that the subjunctive is needed is the use of 'che'.
It cannot be second person; it can only be first or third. "Do you want to make coffee" would be Vuoi fare il caffè. You only need a clause with che when the subject of the clause is different from the main subject.
Duo should accept "do you want him to make coffee?" and "do you what her to make coffee." But "do you want to make coffee" is 100% wrong.
It cannot be second person; it can only be first or third. "Do you want to make coffee" would be Vuoi fare il caffè. You only need a clause with che when the subject of the clause is different from the main subject.
Even if the subjects were different, the subordinate clause couldn’t be in the second person. A singular subjunctive form without a subject is generally assumed to be either first or third person.