Word
Der Kollege, den ich meine, benimmt sich eingebildet, als wäre er der Chef.
Meaning
The colleague whom I mean behaves conceitedly, as if he were the boss.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Der Kollege, den ich meine, benimmt sich eingebildet, als wäre er der Chef.
ich
I
sein
to be
er
he
der Chef
the boss (male)
Questions & Answers about Der Kollege, den ich meine, benimmt sich eingebildet, als wäre er der Chef.
Why does the verb wäre come immediately after als? Doesn't als normally send the verb to the end?
In standard subordinate clauses, yes. But this sentence is using an irreal comparison (meaning "as if"). When you use just als to mean "as if" (instead of als ob or als wenn), German uses a special Verb-First (V1) word order. The conjugated verb wäre jumps to the front of its clause, right after als.
Why do we use wäre instead of ist here?
Because it is an unreal situation. The colleague is not actually the boss, but he is behaving "as if he were". To express this hypothetical, contrary-to-fact scenario, German requires the Konjunktiv II (Subjunctive II) form wäre.
eingebildet looks like a past participle. How does it translate to "conceited"?
It is indeed the past participle of the verb sich etwas einbilden (to imagine something or have illusions about something). Over time, eingebildet became a standalone adjective used to describe someone who imagines themselves to be much better or more important than they actually are—hence, "conceited" or "arrogant".
Why does the relative clause start with den instead of der, since it refers back to Der Kollege?