How to Say "lived through" in Spanish
The Spanish word for “lived through” is “sobrevivió” — B1 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.
Examples
El perro sobrevivió al incendio gracias a los bomberos.
The dog survived the fire thanks to the firefighters.
¿Cómo sobrevivió usted a la guerra? Fue terrible.
How did you (formal) survive the war? It was terrible.
Ella sobrevivió a todos sus hermanos, vivió 100 años.
She outlived all her siblings; she lived 100 years.
The Simple Past Tense
The form 'sobrevivió' tells you that the action of surviving happened once and finished completely in the past.
Using the Preposition 'A'
When saying what was survived, Spanish almost always uses the word 'a' (to) right before the threat: 'Sobrevivió al accidente' (He survived the accident).
Confusing Simple Past with Imperfect
Mistake: “Usar 'sobrevivía' para un evento único.”
Correction: Use 'sobrevivió' (simple past) for a specific, completed event, like 'Sobrevivió el terremoto.' Use 'sobrevivía' (imperfect) only to describe how they lived over a long period.
Related Translations
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