Breakdown of ¿Por qué te comportas como si fueras superior a los demás?
ser
to be
a
to
por qué
why
los demás
the others, the rest
Questions & Answers about ¿Por qué te comportas como si fueras superior a los demás?
Why is fueras in the imperfect (past) subjunctive when the main verb te comportas is in the present tense?
The phrase como si (as if) introduces a hypothetical or unreal situation. To express that this unreal situation is happening right now (in the present), Spanish always requires the imperfect subjunctive (fueras). It works very similarly to English: 'as if you were'.
Why do we use fueras (from ser) instead of estuvieras (from estar) if their behavior is just temporary?
Even though the acting is a temporary behavior, the adjective superior describes a trait, identity, or status. Because it describes an inherent characteristic of a person rather than a state, it must be paired with ser.
I thought comparisons used que (like más grande que). Why does this sentence use superior a?
Most comparisons do use que, but there is a special group of comparative adjectives of Latin origin ending in '-or' that always use a. The most common ones are superior a (superior to), inferior a (inferior to), anterior a (prior to), and posterior a (subsequent to). Notice that English also uses 'to' instead of 'than' with these exact words!
What is the difference between saying a los demás and a otros in this context?