Learn Spanish (Latin America): El actor se queja como si el ruido le molestara. - The actor complains as if the noise bothered him.

The phrase como si (as if) always triggers the past (imperfect) subjunctive, even when talking about a present action. This is because it sets up a hypothetical or unreal situation. You can never use the present subjunctive directly after como si.

Why do we use le instead of lo before molestara?

The verb molestar (to bother) often acts like the verb gustar. The noise (el ruido) is the grammatical subject performing the action. The person being bothered is treated as an indirect object, so we use le (to him) rather than the direct object lo.

Why is there a se in se queja?

The verb for to complain is quejarse, which is a pronominal verb that always requires a reflexive pronoun. Even though the actor isn't literally complaining to himself, this verb simply needs the pronoun to carry the meaning of complaining. You cannot just say el actor queja.

Could I use molestase instead of molestara?