Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Ele fala com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil. - He talks to Ana as if everything were easy.

Saying Ele fala com Ana (without a) sounds odd or foreign in Portugal in everyday speech.
In Brazilian Portuguese, the article before names is much less common and often sounds regional or informal, but in Portugal it’s part of normal standard usage.

Could I say Ele fala para a Ana or Ele fala a Ana instead of Ele fala com a Ana?

For “talk to someone”, European Portuguese strongly prefers falar com alguém:

Ele fala com a Ana. = He talks to / with Ana.

Other options:

falar para alguém – in European Portuguese this is more like speaking in someone’s direction / addressing, used for speeches, presentations, scolding, etc. Much more common in Brazil for “talk to”.
falar a alguém – sounds formal or old-fashioned, and usually suggests “say something to someone” rather than casual conversation.

So, in Portugal, for normal “talk to Ana”, use falar com a Ana.

What does como se literally mean, and how is it used?

Como se literally means “as if / as though”.

It introduces a comparison with a hypothetical or unreal situation:

Ele fala com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil.
= He talks to Ana as if everything were easy.

You’ll typically see como se followed by the subjunctive (especially the imperfect subjunctive), because it suggests something doubtful, unreal, or ironic from the speaker’s point of view.

What tense and mood is fosse, and what verb is it from?

Fosse is the imperfect subjunctive of the verb ser (“to be”).

For ser, the imperfect subjunctive is:

se eu fosse
se tu fosses
se ele / ela / você fosse
se nós fôssemos
se vocês / eles / elas fossem

In the sentence:

tudo fosse fácil → fosse agrees with tudo (3rd person singular).

Why is the subjunctive (fosse) used after como se here?

Because como se introduces a situation that is not presented as real, but as imagined, unreal, or contrary to fact.

Ele fala com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil.
→ He speaks in a way that suggests everything is easy, but the speaker implies that it’s not actually easy.

In standard Portuguese, como se almost always calls for the subjunctive, since it expresses this hypothetical or unreal comparison.

Could I say como se tudo era fácil with the indicative instead of fosse?

No, not in standard modern Portuguese.

Como se + indicative (e.g. como se tudo era fácil) sounds wrong or very non‑standard today.

You should use subjunctive after como se:

✅ como se tudo fosse fácil
❌ como se tudo era fácil

There are some old or literary examples with the indicative, but for normal, correct usage, stick with the subjunctive.

Why is it fosse (imperfect subjunctive) and not seja (present subjunctive) after como se?

With como se, Portuguese strongly prefers the imperfect subjunctive when the situation is unreal or contrary to reality:

como se tudo fosse fácil – standard and natural.

Using como se tudo seja fácil is extremely unusual and generally avoided; it may sound incorrect to most speakers.

Very roughly:

fosse → typical after como se, suggesting an unreal/contrary‑to‑fact comparison.
seja is used in other contexts (e.g. embora tudo seja difícil – “although everything is difficult”), but not normally after como se.

Why do we say tudo fosse fácil and not fossem fáceis?

Because tudo (“everything”) is grammatically singular in Portuguese.

So the verb and any predicate adjective agree in the singular:

tudo é fácil – everything is easy.
tudo fosse fácil – everything were easy.

Using the plural:

❌ tudo fossem fáceis

would be incorrect, because tudo is not plural like todas as coisas. If you used a plural subject, then you’d use plural:

todas as coisas fossem fáceis – if all things were easy.

Is the word order fixed? Can I move como se tudo fosse fácil to another position?

You have some flexibility, but you can’t just put the pieces anywhere.

These are natural:

Ele fala com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil.
Ele fala com a Ana, como se tudo fosse fácil. (comma is optional, for a slight pause)
Como se tudo fosse fácil, ele fala com a Ana. (more literary/emphatic)

But you normally don’t split the como se clause or stick com a Ana inside it:

❌ Ele fala como se tudo com a Ana fosse fácil. (unnatural / wrong here)

So the como se clause stays together as a unit, and you can place that unit either after the main clause or (for emphasis / style) at the beginning.

What nuance does this sentence have? Does it suggest that things really are easy?

The usual interpretation is that things are actually not easy, but he behaves as if they were.

Ele fala com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil.
→ He talks to her in a relaxed, carefree way, ignoring or downplaying real difficulties.

So como se + subjunctive here carries a slightly critical or ironic tone: the speaker is hinting that reality doesn’t match the attitude.

How would this structure change in a past context, like “He talked to Ana as if everything was easy”?

You normally keep the same imperfect subjunctive in the como se clause, even if the main verb moves to the past:

Ele falava com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil.
= He used to talk to Ana as if everything were easy.
Ele falou com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil.
= He talked (once) to Ana as if everything were easy.

Notice that fosse stays the same. The tense of the main verb (falava / falou / fala) changes the time frame and aspect, but the como se + fosse structure remains.

How do you pronounce some key words here in European Portuguese?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciations (IPA):

Ele – [ˈe.lɨ] (final -e is a closed, short sound, not like English “ee”)
fala – [ˈfa.lɐ]
com – [kõ] (nasal vowel, like “kong” without the final g)
a – [ɐ] (very short, like a reduced “uh”)
Ana – [ˈɐ.nɐ] (both a’s are reduced, not “AH-na” as in English)
como – [ˈko.mu]
se – [sɨ] (final vowel similar to -e in ele)
tudo – [ˈtu.du]
fosse – [ˈfo.sɨ]
fácil – [ˈfa.sil]

In connected speech:
Ele fala com a Ana como se tudo fosse fácil
→ roughly [ˈe.lɨ ˈfa.lɐ kõ ɐ ˈɐ.nɐ ˈko.mu sɨ ˈtu.du ˈfo.sɨ ˈfa.sil].