When talking about highly immersive experiences, like virtual reality (sýndarveruleikinn), you often need to describe things that aren't actually real but feel as though they are.
| The new virtual reality must be very exciting. | Nýi sýndarveruleikinn hlýtur að vera mjög spennandi. |
Hypothetical comparisons with eins og
To say "as if" in Icelandic, you use the phrase eins og followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive signals that the situation you are describing is hypothetical or unreal.
The most common verbs used in these comparisons are vera (to be) and geta (to be able to). Here is a quick reminder of their past subjunctive forms:
| Pronoun | vera (to be) | geta (can / be able to) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | væri | gæti |
| þú | værir | gætir |
| hann/hún/það | væri | gæti |
| við | værum | gætum |
| þið | væruð | gætuð |
| þeir/þær/þau | væru | gætu |
Let's look at how eins og pairs with these subjunctive verbs to describe feeling present in a simulator (hermirinn) or an interactive (gagnvirkur) game.
| The experience in the simulator is as if I were in space. | Upplifunin í herminum er eins og ég væri í geimnum. |
| This visual world is tangible, as if I could touch it. | Þessi sjónræni heimur er áþreifanlegur, eins og ég gæti snert hann. |
| This is so interactive, as if we were inside the story. | Þetta er svo gagnvirkt, eins og við værum inni í sögunni. |
Describing unreal worlds
You can use this same structure to talk about a third-person subject, such as a computer-generated (tölvugerður) or visual (sjónrænn) world. Just remember to conjugate the subjunctive verb to match the new subject.
| The visual experience is as if the world were real. | Sjónræna upplifunin er eins og heimurinn væri raunverulegur. |
| The perception changes as if the computer-generated virtual reality were completely real. | Skynjunin breytist eins og tölvugerði sýndarveruleikinn væri alveg raunverulegur. |