Breakdown of El año pasado, la bacteria no habría sobrevivido.
no
no, not
el año
year
pasado
past / last
haber
(auxiliary) have
sobrevivir
to survive
la bacteria
bacteria
Questions & Answers about El año pasado, la bacteria no habría sobrevivido.
Why do we use habría sobrevivido (would have survived) instead of just the simple conditional sobreviviría (would survive)?
We use the conditional perfect (habría + past participle) to talk about a hypothetical situation that already happened in the past. Because the sentence specifies el año pasado (last year), we know the window for the bacteria to survive has closed. If we used the simple conditional (sobreviviría), it would mean 'would not survive' in the present or future.
In English, 'bacteria' is technically a plural word. Is la bacteria singular or plural in Spanish?
Since la bacteria is a feminine noun, why doesn't the past participle change to match it (sobrevivida)?
When a past participle is used with the helping verb haber to form a perfect tense like the conditional perfect, it is invariable. It always ends in -o. Past participles only change to match gender and number when they are used as adjectives, not as part of a compound verb.
Why isn't there a preposition like en before el año pasado?
In Spanish, you do not use en before time expressions like el año pasado (last year), el mes que viene (next month), or days of the week. You simply use the definite article (el). Adding en here is a common mistake for English speakers translating 'in the past year' too literally.
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