Breakdown of Totuus vääristyi, ikään kuin eläisimme suuressa harhassa.
totuus
truth
suuri
large, great
elää
to live, to be alive
ikään kuin
as if / as though
Questions & Answers about Totuus vääristyi, ikään kuin eläisimme suuressa harhassa.
Why does this sentence use the conditional verb eläisimme instead of a regular past tense for "were living"?
The conjunction ikään kuin (as if / as though) introduces a hypothetical comparison. Finnish expresses this imaginary state by attaching the conditional marker -isi- to the verb. So, instead of a past tense, it essentially says "as if we would live."
I know the verb vääristää means "to distort". Why does the sentence use vääristyi?
Vääristyi comes from the intransitive verb vääristyä (to become distorted). If you used the transitive vääristää, the truth would have to be distorting something else. The -yä ending turns it into an action happening to the subject itself without an outside agent.
Is there a specific reason suuressa harhassa uses the inessive (-ssa) case here?
When you talk about living in a specific state, abstract condition, or environment in Finnish, the verb elää (to live) takes the inessive case to indicate being "inside of" it. Since they are currently living inside the illusion, both the adjective and noun take the -ssa ending.
Does ikään kuin ever trigger a different mood besides the conditional?
When used to mean "as if" for a hypothetical comparison, it almost always takes the conditional mood. However, if it is used loosely as a hesitation marker (meaning "sort of" or "like" in everyday speech), it doesn't force the conditional. In this sentence's context, standard grammar requires the conditional.