Sobrevivieron al ataque.

Sobrevivieron is the preterite form of sobrevivir and means they survived.

More specifically, it is:

• 3rd person plural
• preterite / simple past
• from the infinitive sobrevivir = to survive

So grammatically, it matches:

• ellos sobrevivieron = they survived
• ellas sobrevivieron = they survived
• sometimes ustedes sobrevivieron = you (plural) survived, depending on context

Because Spanish often omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

In sobrevivieron, the ending -ieron tells you it is 3rd person plural, so Spanish does not need to say ellos or ellas unless the speaker wants emphasis or contrast.

So:

• Sobrevivieron al ataque. = natural
• Ellos sobrevivieron al ataque. = also correct, but more explicit or emphatic

Yes, but in Spain, that would usually only be for formal plural ustedes.

In Spain:

• vosotros sobrevivisteis = you all survived (informal)
• ustedes sobrevivieron = you all survived (formal)
• sobrevivieron by itself most often means they survived, unless context makes it clear that it refers to ustedes

So for a learner of Spanish from Spain, the most likely reading is they survived the attack.

Because a + el always contracts to al.

So:

• a + el ataque → al ataque

This is a very common contraction in Spanish.

Examples:

• Voy al mercado.
• Respondieron al mensaje.
• Sobrevivieron al ataque.

Because sobrevivir is commonly used with a when talking about surviving an event, danger, disaster, accident, attack, etc.

So Spanish says:

• sobrevivir a un accidente
• sobrevivir a la guerra
• sobrevivir al ataque

For an English speaker, this is important because English says survive the attack, but Spanish usually says survive to the attack/event structurally: sobrevivir al ataque.

As a learner, the safest pattern is:

• sobrevivir a + noun

Yes. Ataque is a masculine noun, so it takes el in the singular:

• el ataque = the attack
• los ataques = the attacks

That is why:

• a + el ataque becomes al ataque

Even though many nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, ataque is masculine.

Because Spanish normally needs both:

1. the preposition required by the verb here: a
2. the article for the noun: el

So the full structure is:

• sobrevivieron a el ataque
• which contracts to sobrevivieron al ataque

Also, in Spanish, singular count nouns usually need an article in this kind of sentence. Ataque here refers to a specific attack, so el is natural.

Yes. Sobrevivir is a regular -ir verb.

Its preterite forms are:

• sobreviví
• sobreviviste
• sobrevivió
• sobrevivimos
• sobrevivisteis
• sobrevivieron

So sobrevivieron follows the normal pattern for regular -ir verbs in the preterite.

It is pronounced roughly as:

so-bre-vi-VIE-ron

The stress falls on vie:

• so
• bre
• vi
• VIE
• ron

A few helpful points:

• The v in Spanish is usually pronounced very similarly to b
• The r in -ron is a soft tapped r
• The stress is on the penultimate syllable because the word ends in -n

The preterite presents the survival as a completed past event.

So Sobrevivieron al ataque means the event is viewed as finished: they went through the attack and survived it.

Compared with other options:

• Sobrevivían al ataque would be imperfect, which does not fit as naturally here
• Han sobrevivido al ataque is the present perfect, often used in Spain for a recent past event with present relevance
• Sobrevivieron al ataque sounds like a completed past fact

So this sentence is a straightforward narrative past: they survived the attack.

For a learner, you should normally use Sobrevivieron al ataque.

With words like ataque, accidente, guerra, and similar events, the standard learner-friendly pattern is:

• sobrevivir a algo

So:

• sobrevivieron al ataque
• sobrevivió al accidente
• sobrevivimos a la guerra

You may sometimes encounter other structures in advanced or literary usage, but for normal modern Spanish, sobrevivir a is the pattern you should use here.