Breakdown of Si el barco hubiera tenido radar, no habría chocado contra el iceberg.
no
no, not
tener
to have
el barco
boat
haber
(auxiliary) have
si
if
chocar
to crash
contra
against
el radar
the radar
el iceberg
the iceberg
Questions & Answers about Si el barco hubiera tenido radar, no habría chocado contra el iceberg.
Why do we use hubiera tenido followed by habría chocado in this sentence?
This sentence uses the "unreal past conditional" structure. You are talking about a hypothetical situation in the past that didn't actually happen (the ship didn't have radar). The condition part starting with si always takes the past perfect subjunctive (hubiera tenido, meaning "had had"). The theoretical result takes the conditional perfect (habría chocado, meaning "would have crashed").
Is it ever correct to put the conditional perfect (habría...) right after si?
No, never! This is a very common trap for English speakers. Just like it's incorrect to say "If the ship would have had radar" in English, you cannot put a conditional tense right after si in Spanish. The verb clause introduced by si in these past hypothetical sentences must always use the subjunctive (hubiera tenido).
Could I say hubiese tenido instead of hubiera tenido?
Yes, absolutely. Hubiera and hubiese are just two different forms of the imperfect subjunctive for the helping verb haber. They are completely interchangeable. Hubiera is more common in everyday Latin American Spanish, but both are grammatically correct and you will see hubiese in writing.
Why does the sentence use contra instead of a literal translation of "into"?
In Spanish, the verb chocar (to crash) typically pairs with the preposition contra (against) when hitting a solid or stationary object. You are literally saying the ship crashed "against" the iceberg. You will also often see chocar con, which is especially common when two moving objects collide, but contra is perfect here to emphasize the hard impact against a surface.
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