Learn Spanish (Latin America): El año pasado, la bacteria no habría sobrevivido. - Last year, the bacteria would not have survived.

El año pasado, la bacteria no habría sobrevivido.

Last year, the bacteria would not have survived.

Breakdown of El año pasado, la bacteria no habría sobrevivido.

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?

In Spanish, la bacteria is a singular feminine noun (equivalent to the English 'bacterium'). If you are talking about multiple bacteria, you must use the plural form: las bacterias.

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?