Breakdown of Du pratar som om du redan visste sanningen.
du
you (singular)
prata
to speak
veta
to know (facts, information)
sanningen
the truth
redan
already
som om
as if
Questions & Answers about Du pratar som om du redan visste sanningen.
Why is visste in the past tense if the first verb, pratar, is in the present tense?
The phrase som om (as if) sets up an unreal or hypothetical situation. Just like in English ("You talk as if you knew"), Swedish uses the past tense here to show that this isn't reality. The person doesn't actually know the truth, but they are talking like they do.
Why does the adverb redan come before the verb visste?
Because som om du redan visste sanningen is a subordinate clause. In a normal main clause, the verb comes first (Du visste redan sanningen). However, in a subordinate clause, sentence adverbs like redan (already) or inte (not) must be placed before the verb. You might remember this as the BIFF rule.
Wait, is visste the past tense of vet? They look quite different.
Yes, it is! The verb att veta (to know a fact) is irregular. The present tense is vet (know) and the past tense is visste (knew).
Could I use vore instead of visste in this sentence?
Not here. vore means "were" (it is the special hypothetical form of att vara, to be). You would use it for a sentence like "You talk as if you were the boss" (Du pratar som om du vore chefen). Since our sentence needs the verb "knew", we just use its standard past tense form, visste.
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