Learn French: Tu te comportes comme si tu étais le marquis ! - You behave as if you were the marquis!

Tu te comportes comme si tu étais le marquis !

You behave as if you were the marquis!

Breakdown of Tu te comportes comme si tu étais le marquis !

être

to be

you (informal singular)

him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)

se comporter

to behave

Questions & Answers about Tu te comportes comme si tu étais le marquis !

Why use the past tense étais when the behavior is happening right now?

After comme si (as if), French uses the imparfait to describe a hypothetical or unreal situation in the present. Just like in English ("as if you were"), using a past tense shows that this is contrary to reality because you aren't actually the marquis!

What if the unreal comparison was about something in the past, like "You behaved as if you had been the marquis"?

To express a hypothetical situation in the past, you would use the plus-que-parfait (pluperfect) after comme si. The sentence would become: Tu te comportais comme si tu avais été le marquis !

Why is there a te in tu te comportes?

The verb for "to behave" is the reflexive verb se comporter. In French, you literally say that you behave yourself, which is why you need the reflexive pronoun te matching the subject tu.

Does si ever drop its "i" before tu like it does before il?

No, si only drops its "i" and becomes s' when followed by il or ils (for example, s'il). It never contracts before any other word, so we always write si tu.