Breakdown of La vena del campesino apestaba. ¡Ni que la hubiera mordido!
de
from / of
que
that / than
la
it / her (direct object)
el campesino
farmer
haber
(auxiliary) have
morder
to bite
ni
nor / not even
la vena
vein
apestar
to stink
Questions & Answers about La vena del campesino apestaba. ¡Ni que la hubiera mordido!
Why do we use the past perfect subjunctive (hubiera mordido) here instead of the imperfect subjunctive?
The phrase ¡ni que...! (which expresses an indignant "as if!") always triggers a past subjunctive. We use the past perfect subjunctive (hubiera mordido) because the hypothetical biting would have happened before the time we are talking about. If you were rejecting an idea happening at the same time, you would use the imperfect subjunctive, like ¡ni que la mordiera! (as if I were biting it!).
How do we know hubiera means "I had" instead of "he/she/it had"?
The form hubiera is used for the first-person (I) and third-person (he/she/it) singular. Out of context, it is ambiguous. Here, the translation tells us the speaker is defending themselves ("As if I had bitten it!"). If the context wasn't clear in a real conversation, you could add the pronoun for clarity: ¡Ni que yo la hubiera mordido!
Why is the object pronoun la before the verb rather than attached to mordido?
In Spanish, hubiera mordido is a compound verb made up of the conjugated auxiliary verb haber and the past participle mordido. Direct object pronouns like la (referring to la vena) must always go before the conjugated verb (hubiera). You can never attach a pronoun to a past participle that is part of a compound tense.
Why is apestar conjugated in the imperfect tense (apestaba) here instead of the preterite?
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