Breakdown of ¿En qué país residirías ahora si hubieras cruzado la frontera?
en
in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)
qué
what
ahora
now
el país
the country
si
if
haber
to have (auxiliary)
cruzar
to cross
residir
to reside
la frontera
the border
Questions & Answers about ¿En qué país residirías ahora si hubieras cruzado la frontera?
Why do we use the simple conditional (residirías) instead of the conditional perfect here?
This is a mixed conditional. The hypothetical action happened in the past (si hubieras cruzado), but its consequence is happening right now in the present, which is emphasized by the word ahora. Because the result affects the present, we use the simple conditional (residirías) rather than the conditional perfect.
Could I use hubieses cruzado instead of hubieras cruzado in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely. The past perfect subjunctive has two valid forms for the auxiliary verb: hubiera and hubiese. Both si hubieras cruzado and si hubieses cruzado mean the exact same thing, though the form ending with -ra is generally more common in spoken Spanish.
In everyday English, we often put the preposition at the end of the sentence. Why does En go at the very beginning of this Spanish question?
Spanish does not allow you to leave a preposition at the end of a sentence. You must always place the preposition immediately before the question word or noun it belongs to, which is why this sentence must begin with ¿En qué país...?.
Would it be grammatically correct to start the sentence with the si clause instead?
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