Breakdown of Se eles tivessem mudado a diretiva, a máquina não teria consciência.
não
not / no
eles
they (m)
ter
to have
o
him/it (m)
a máquina
the machine
se
if
mudar
to change
a diretiva
the directive
a consciência
the consciousness
Questions & Answers about Se eles tivessem mudado a diretiva, a máquina não teria consciência.
Why do we mix a past tense (tivessem mudado) with a present conditional (teria)?
This is a mixed conditional clause. The 'if' part is an unreal situation in the past (they didn't change the directive back then), so it uses the Past Perfect Subjunctive (tivessem mudado). The consequence is an unreal situation right now (the machine currently has consciousness), so it uses the Conditional (teria). If the consequence was also in the past, you would use teria tido (would have had).
Could I use the Pretérito Imperfeito instead of the Condicional for the second half of the sentence?
Yes! In everyday spoken Portuguese, it is very common to replace the Condicional with the Pretérito Imperfeito for the result clause. You will often hear people say a máquina não tinha consciência, and it means the exact same thing as não teria consciência.
How exactly is the tense for tivessem mudado formed?
This is the Mais-Que-Perfeito do Conjuntivo (Past Perfect Subjunctive). It is built by taking the Imperfeito do Conjuntivo (Imperfect Subjunctive) of the auxiliary verb ter—which gives us tivessem for eles—and adding the past participle of the main verb, which is mudado.
Can consciência mean both 'consciousness' and 'conscience'?
Exactly. The word consciência is used both for the state of being self-aware (consciousness, as in this sci-fi sentence) and for your moral compass (a conscience). Context tells you which one is meant.
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