Breakdown of Preferia que eles não estivessem extintos, mas sim vivos hoje.
não
not / no
sim
yes
eles
they (m)
mas
but
Questions & Answers about Preferia que eles não estivessem extintos, mas sim vivos hoje.
Why do we need sim after mas in this sentence?
The structure não... mas sim is used for corrective opposition, meaning "not [this], but rather [that]." It directly corrects the negated state (não estivessem extintos) with the alternative state you want (vivos). If you only used mas, it would feel like you were setting up a contradicting clause rather than offering a direct replacement for the rejected idea.
The provided translation says "I preferred", but with hoje (today), shouldn't it be "I would prefer"?
Exactly. While Preferia literally translates to "I preferred" (imperfect past), Portuguese speakers constantly use the imperfect indicative in place of the conditional tense (Preferiria) to express hypothetical wishes or polite requests. The word hoje makes it completely clear that this is a present contrary-to-fact wish ("I would prefer"), not a past habit.
Why is estivessem in the imperfect subjunctive?
The verb preferir expresses a preference or wish, which triggers the subjunctive mood for the following clause introduced by que. Because the main verb (Preferia) is in a past tense (even though it's acting as a conditional), the rules of tense harmony dictate that the dependent verb must be in the imperfect subjunctive (estivessem).
Extinction is permanent, so why use estar (estivessem) instead of ser (fossem)?