"Se não houvesse água, nós não poderíamos viver."

Translation: If there were no water, we would not be able to live.

[Lukas353894]

Shouldnt it be "if there was no water..."

[deactivated user]

No. It is the subjunctive used to describe a hypothesis about a present/future situation. Houvesse = were (both subjunctive)

[Patricia183234]

I'd say water is singular, (was no water) if it says 'were no' it should be waters!

[deactivated user]

This is a hypothetical statement in which the subjunctive were is used, not was .

Se não houvesse... (subjuntivo)
If there were no... (subjunctive)

http://grammarist.com/grammar/subjunctive-mood/

[WesJM-O]

Interesting, I see both sides of this. Hypothetical statements "were" sounds correct but the thing it pertains to, in this case "water", is singular so it sounds strange. Imagine changing it to "air", it sounds equally unusual.

I think in day-to-day usage, "was" is used for singular and "were" for plural, but that in no means says it's grammatically correct.

[KTKee-EnglishEng]

If water didn't exist? Just going by hints there..

[Danmoller]

Yep. And also "if there were no water".

[Laudaniela24]

Seriously, the only word marked wrong was survived? That should be acceptable

[deactivated user]

How can "survived" be acceptable in this sentence?