Breakdown of Fue un milagro que la hostilidad no hubiera llegado a destruir el tratado duradero.
ser
to be
no
no, not
un
a, an (masculine)
a
to
llegar
to arrive
que
that / than
haber
(auxiliary) have
destruir
to destroy
el milagro
miracle
el tratado
the treaty
duradero
lasting
la hostilidad
the hostility
Questions & Answers about Fue un milagro que la hostilidad no hubiera llegado a destruir el tratado duradero.
Why is llegar a destruir translated as managed to destroy instead of arrived to destroy?
The structure llegar a followed by an infinitive is a culminating periphrasis. It shows that an action occurred after a process, escalation, or effort. Depending on the context, it translates to manage to, succeed in, or go so far as to. In this sentence, it emphasizes that the hostility didn't escalate to the extreme point of destroying the treaty.
Why does this sentence use the past perfect subjunctive hubiera llegado rather than the indicative había llegado?
The phrase Fue un milagro que (It was a miracle that) expresses a subjective reaction or emotion. In Spanish, expressing an emotion or value judgment about an event triggers the subjunctive mood in the following clause. Because the main verb Fue is in the past and the action was a completed past possibility, you need the past perfect subjunctive (hubiera plus the past participle).
Could I use terminado por destruir instead of llegado a destruir here?
You could, but it shifts the focus slightly. While both are culminating periphrases, terminar por (or acabar por) emphasizes the final outcome of a long process, meaning to end up destroying. Llegar a emphasizes reaching an extreme limit or managing to do something difficult. Given the context of a miracle preventing a disaster, llegar a works best to show the hostility didn't cross that extreme line.
Is it possible to use hubiese instead of hubiera in this sentence?
Yes, hubiese llegado is entirely correct and means the exact same thing. Both are valid forms of the past perfect subjunctive. However, in Latin America, the forms ending in -ra (like hubiera) are much more commonly used in everyday spoken Spanish, while the -se forms are often reserved for formal writing or literature.
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