Breakdown of Si hubiéramos distraído a ese vigilante, no nos habría visto.
no
no / not
a
personal a (marks a person object)
ver
to see; to watch (TV, a film)
nos
to us / ourselves / us (direct object)
ese
that (m.sg., also esa, esos, esas, eso)
si
if
haber
to have (auxiliary)
distraer
to distract
el vigilante
the security guard
Questions & Answers about Si hubiéramos distraído a ese vigilante, no nos habría visto.
Why does hubiéramos have an accent mark, but other forms like hubiera do not?
In the past subjunctive, the nosotros form always takes a written accent on the vowel immediately before the -ramos or -semos ending. This keeps the spoken stress on the correct syllable, just like in the word habláramos.
Could I say Si hubiésemos distraído instead of hubiéramos?
Yes! The past subjunctive has two sets of endings: -ra and -se. They are completely interchangeable, so hubiésemos means the exact same thing as hubiéramos. The -ra form is just slightly more common in everyday speech.
Why is there an a before ese vigilante?
This is the personal a. In Spanish, whenever the direct object of a verb is a specific person, you must put an a in front of it. Since the watchman is a specific person receiving the action of being distracted, we must include it here.
Why does the past participle distraído have an accent on the í?
The verb distraer ends in two strong vowels (a and e). In the past participle, the i in the -ido ending is a weak vowel next to the strong vowel a. To prevent them from blending into a single syllable and to keep the stress firmly on the i, you must add a written accent.
Can I attach the pronoun nos to the end of the verb, like habría vístonos?
No, you can never attach an object pronoun to a past participle like visto in a compound tense. The pronoun must always go directly before the conjugated auxiliary verb, which in this case gives us no nos habría visto.
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