Learn Spanish (Latin America): El hombre se siente superior y nos trata como si fuéramos sus mayordomos. - The man feels superior and treats us as if we were his butlers.

The phrase como si (as if) sets up a hypothetical or unreal situation. In Spanish, como si is always followed by the imperfect subjunctive tense, which is fuéramos here. We use this past subjunctive form even when talking about how he treats us right now in the present.

Wait, doesn't fuéramos also mean "we went"?

Yes! The imperfect subjunctive forms for ser (to be) and ir (to go) are completely identical. You have to rely on context to tell them apart. Since "as if we went his butlers" makes no sense here, it has to be ser.

Why does the sentence use se siente instead of just siente?

We use the reflexive verb sentirse to describe how a person feels physically or emotionally (in this case, superior). The non-reflexive sentir is generally used when you feel something, like a noun (for example, siente dolor means "he feels pain").

Why is it sus mayordomos when the sentence is only talking about one man?