Breakdown of Si el médico hubiera llegado temprano, habría prevenido la muerte de la víctima.
de
from / of
temprano
early
llegar
to arrive
haber
(auxiliary) have
si
if
la muerte
the death
el médico
the doctor (physician)
prevenir
to prevent
la víctima
the victim
Questions & Answers about Si el médico hubiera llegado temprano, habría prevenido la muerte de la víctima.
Why do we use hubiera llegado and habría prevenido here?
This sentence uses the third conditional to talk about a past event that didn't happen. The condition clause starting with Si must use the past perfect subjunctive (hubiera llegado) to show it is contrary to fact. The result clause uses the conditional perfect (habría prevenido) to express what the imaginary outcome would have been.
Can I use hubiese llegado instead of hubiera llegado?
Yes, hubiera and hubiese are interchangeable forms of the past subjunctive auxiliary verb. Hubiera is much more common in everyday spoken Latin American Spanish, but hubiese is perfectly correct and you will frequently encounter it in writing or formal speech.
Is it ever correct to put the conditional perfect right after Si, like Si habría llegado?
Could we swap the order of the two clauses in this sentence?
The sentence says la víctima. Does this mean the victim was definitely a woman?
Not necessarily. The word víctima always takes the feminine article la, regardless of the person's actual gender. Even if the victim was a man, you still say la muerte de la víctima.
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