Question 1

Why are both verbs (жили and спасли) in the past tense if the sentence is talking about a general or future situation?

Accepted Answer

In Russian, unreal or hypothetical conditions always use the past tense forms of verbs, triggered by the particle бы. Even though it translates to "if we lived" and "we would save" referring to a present or future possibility, Russian grammar strictly requires the past tense.

Question 2

Why does the first half use an imperfective verb (жили) but the second half uses a perfective verb (спасли)?

Accepted Answer

The choice depends on the specific meaning of each action. "Living without plastic" is an ongoing, continuous state, so it uses the imperfective жили. "Saving nature" focuses on a successfully completed result, so it uses the perfective спасли.

Question 3

Does the second бы have to go exactly between мы and спасли?

Accepted Answer

Not strictly, but it is the most natural position. The particle бы is very mobile in Russian, but it usually likes to sit right after the subject or the first stressed word of the clause. Saying мы бы спасли sounds much more natural than мы спасли бы.

Question 4

Why does the word пластик change to пластика here?

Accepted Answer

The preposition без (without) always requires the noun that follows it to be in the Genitive case. Since пластик is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, it takes the standard Genitive ending -а.

Question 5

Why is the word for nature written as природу instead of its dictionary form природа?

Accepted Answer

Природа is the direct object of the verb спасли (it is the thing being saved), which means it must take the Accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -а, the Accusative ending changes to -у.

Если бы мы жили без пластика, мы бы спасли природу.

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