Breakdown of El mayordomo reacciona como si viera un fantasma.
un
a, an (masculine)
ver
to see / to look / appear
como
as / like (such as, similar to)
el fantasma
the ghost
si
if
el mayordomo
the butler
reaccionar
to react
Questions & Answers about El mayordomo reacciona como si viera un fantasma.
Why is viera used here instead of the present tense ve or the regular past tense vio?
The phrase como si (as if) always triggers the imperfect (past) subjunctive because it sets up a hypothetical, unreal situation. Even though the English translation says 'saw', he isn't actually seeing a ghost in reality, so we can't use the normal indicative past tense (vio).
The verb reacciona is in the present tense. Does the past subjunctive viera mean he saw the ghost yesterday?
Not at all! When you use the imperfect subjunctive after como si, it describes a hypothetical action happening at the exact same time as the main verb. Because reacciona happens in the present, como si viera means 'as if he were seeing it right now'. If the sentence started in the past (reaccionó), it would mean 'He reacted as if he saw it at that moment in the past'.
How do I conjugate ver to get the form viera?
To form the imperfect subjunctive, you always start with the ellos/ellas form of the simple past (preterite). For ver (to see), that form is vieron. You drop the -ron at the end to get the stem vie-, and then add the ending -ra to match the 'he' subject of the sentence.
Wait, why is it un fantasma? Doesn't the word end in an 'a'?
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