syokubutu ha huyu wo ikinokotta.

A common reading is:

• 植物 → しょくぶつ
• は → pronounced わ
• 冬 → ふゆ
• を → pronounced お
• 生き残った → いきのこった

So the whole sentence is read:

しょくぶつ は ふゆ を いきのこった。

The dictionary form is 生き残る.

This verb means to survive, to stay alive, or to remain alive after danger or difficulty.

The form 生き残った is the plain past form, so it means survived.

It is built like this:

• 生き残る → dictionary form
• 生き残った → past plain form

Because 生き残る is a -る verb that is actually a godan verb, it does not change like an ichidan verb.

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So 植物は means something like:

• as for the plant(s)
• the plant(s), speaking of them...

In this sentence, the speaker is presenting 植物 as the thing being talked about, and then saying what happened to it/them.

A native English speaker may expect が, but は is very common when:

• the thing is already the topic
• you are making a general statement
• you want a slight contrast, such as the plants survived

Yes, を often marks a direct object, but not only that.

In 冬を生き残った, the を marks the period that was gotten through or survived through. So the idea is:

• to survive the winter
• to make it through winter

This is similar to other Japanese patterns where を marks a span, route, or space that is passed through:

• 橋を渡る = cross a bridge
• 道を歩く = walk along a road
• 夏を越す = get through the summer

So here 冬 is not really a normal object in the English sense. It is the difficult period that was endured.

It is basically an intransitive verb.

That means the subject is the one that survives:

• 人が生き残る = a person survives

However, Japanese allows some intransitive verbs to appear with を when that を marks:

• a route
• a period of time
• a situation being passed through

So in 冬を生き残った, 冬を does not make 生き残る a normal transitive verb in the same way as 本を読む.

A good way to understand it is:

• 植物 = the thing that survived
• 冬を = the period they survived through

Yes, 植物が冬を生き残った is possible, but the nuance changes.

Very roughly:

• 植物は冬を生き残った

  • As for the plants, they survived the winter
  • more topical, general, or contrastive

• 植物が冬を生き残った

  • The plants survived the winter
  • more focused on 植物 as the subject
  • can sound like it is answering what survived the winter?

So both can work, but は and が are not interchangeable in nuance.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Japanese nouns usually do not mark singular vs. plural the way English does.

So 植物 could mean:

• a plant
• plants
• vegetation / plant life in a broad sense

You have to use context to know which is intended.

It could be either, depending on context.

With no extra context, 植物は can sound fairly general, like talking about plants as a category or about some plants already known in the conversation.

For example:

• in a biology discussion, it could mean plants survived the winter
• in a story about a garden, it could mean the plants survived the winter

Japanese often leaves that kind of distinction unstated.

Not as fixed as in English.

Because the particles show each word’s role, Japanese word order is more flexible. For example, these can all be possible depending on context:

• 植物は冬を生き残った。
• 冬を植物は生き残った。

But 植物は冬を生き残った is the most straightforward and neutral order here.

The verb usually comes at the end, though, so that part is much less flexible.

Because に would not express the same idea.

• 冬を生き残った = survived through the winter
• 冬に would more naturally mean in winter or at winter, which does not fit survive very well here

The important idea is not simply that the surviving happened during winter, but that winter was the difficult period that was endured.

That is why を is natural.

Yes, it is understandable and natural enough, especially if the point is that the plants did not die during winter.

That said, Japanese also has other very common ways to express similar ideas, such as:

• 植物は冬を越した。
• 植物は冬を越えた。
• 植物は冬を乗り切った。

These can sometimes sound more idiomatic depending on context.

Still, 冬を生き残った is perfectly understandable and gives a clear sense of surviving a difficult season.

生き残った has a strong nuance of:

• continuing to live despite danger
• not dying when death or loss was possible
• making it through a harsh situation

So it sounds more dramatic than:

• いた = existed / was there
• 育った = grew

If you say 植物は冬を生き残った, it suggests winter was something challenging, and the plants managed to make it through.

Yes.

It is made of:

• 生きる = to live
• 残る = to remain

Together, 生き残る literally suggests something like remain alive.

That is why it means to survive.

This kind of compound verb is very common in Japanese, and knowing the parts can help you remember the meaning.