Hun later som hun er lege.

Here, later is the present tense of å late som, which means to pretend or to act as if.

So:

• Hun later som hun er lege. = She pretends that she is a doctor / She acts as if she is a doctor.

Be careful: å late by itself can be confusing, because this meaning usually appears in the expression å late som (om).

In this expression, som helps introduce the idea as if.

So å late som (om) means:

• to pretend that
• to act as if

You will often see both versions:

• Hun later som hun er lege.
• Hun later som om hun er lege.

Both can be understood, but som om is often felt to be clearer and more explicitly like English as if.

Many learners will meet the fuller form:

• Hun later som om hun er lege.

This is a very common and safe version to use.

The shorter version:

• Hun later som hun er lege

is also used, especially in everyday speech and writing, but some learners may find som om easier to understand because it maps more directly to as if.

So if you want the clearest learner-friendly form, use:

• Hun later som om hun er lege.

In Norwegian, professions often appear without an article after verbs like å være.

So you usually say:

• Hun er lege. = She is a doctor.
• Han er lærer. = He is a teacher.

Not:

• Hun er en lege in the normal job/profession sense

Using en can sound different, more like one doctor / a certain doctor, rather than simply stating someone's profession.

So in this sentence, hun er lege is exactly what you would expect.

Because the part after som is a subordinate clause, and Norwegian normally keeps subject + verb order there.

So:

• som hun er lege
• som om hun er lege

Both have normal clause order:

• hun = subject
• er = verb

Compare that with a main clause question:

• Er hun lege? = Is she a doctor?

In a question, the verb comes first. But after som (om), it stays hun er.

The infinitive is å late som (om).

A few useful forms are:

• å late som (om) = to pretend
• later som (om) = pretends / is pretending
• latet som (om) = pretended / has pretended

Examples:

• Hun later som om hun er lege. = She pretends to be a doctor.
• Hun latet som om hun var lege. = She pretended to be a doctor.

Notice that in the past, the verb inside the clause often also shifts:

• er → var

Not exactly.

Hun later som hun er lege means she is pretending to be a doctor, or acting as if she were one.

If you want to say she behaves like a doctor or she acts like a doctor in the sense of manner or style, Norwegian would more naturally use something like:

• Hun oppfører seg som en lege.
• Hun oppfører seg som om hun er lege.

The sentence with later som strongly suggests pretending, not just similar behavior.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Hun ≈ hoon (with a rounded u sound, not exactly like English)
• later ≈ LAH-ter
• som ≈ sohm
• hun ≈ hoon
• er ≈ air or a short rolled/soft ehr
• lege ≈ LAY-guh

Very roughly:

• hoon LAH-ter sohm hoon air LAY-guh

A few pronunciation notes:

• The g in lege is pronounced.
• The e at the end of lege is a weak vowel, like uh.
• Norwegian pronunciation varies by dialect, so this is only an approximation.

The natural past version is:

• Hun latet som om hun var lege.

That means:

• She pretended to be a doctor.
• She acted as if she were a doctor.

Changes:

• later → latet
• er → var

Present:

• Hun later som om hun er lege.

Past:

• Hun latet som om hun var lege.