Question 1

Does словно need the conditional particle бы here?

Accepted Answer

You will often see словно бы, but словно on its own already means 'as if' and sets up a hypothetical comparison. It doesn't strictly require бы, and using just the past tense verb (видел) is enough to show that the situation is imaginary.

Question 2

Why is видел in the past tense if the action of seeing is happening at the same time he is looking?

Accepted Answer

In Russian, hypothetical comparisons introduced by words like словно, как будто, or будто require the past tense, much like the English 'as if he saw' or 'as if he were.' This past tense marks the action as unreal, rather than indicating past time.

Question 3

Why do we use в окно instead of на окно?

Accepted Answer

Using в with the accusative case (в окно) means looking out of or through the window to see what is outside. If you used на окно, it would mean he was staring directly at the physical window itself, perhaps looking at a smudge on the glass.

Question 4

This lesson covers using imperative verbs as conditionals. Could we use an imperative here instead of словно видел?

Accepted Answer

No. The imperative conditional structure (like позови он меня for 'if he had called me') is only used for 'if/then' scenarios where one event causes another. Because this sentence is a hypothetical comparison ('as if') rather than a cause-and-effect condition, you must use a comparative conjunction like словно with a past tense verb.

Космонавт смотрел в окно, словно видел чудо.

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