Learn Swedish: Hennes leende såg ut som om det vore falskt.

Hennes leende såg ut som om det vore falskt.

Her smile looked as if it were fake.

Breakdown of Hennes leende såg ut som om det vore falskt.

Questions & Answers about Hennes leende såg ut som om det vore falskt.

Why do we use vore here instead of the normal past tense var?

The phrase som om (as if) sets up an unreal or imaginary situation. Because her smile isn't necessarily fake, it just looks that way, Swedish uses the special form vore (were) instead of var (was). This is exactly like the English subjunctive, as in 'as if it were'.

Why is 'looked' translated as såg ut rather than just såg?

The verb att se on its own means 'to see', so såg means 'saw'. When you want to talk about how someone or something appears to the eye, you must use the phrasal verb att se ut, making the past tense såg ut (looked or appeared).

Why is there a '-t' at the end of the word falskt?

The adjective must agree with the noun it describes. The noun here is ett leende (a smile), which is replaced by the pronoun det in the second half of the sentence. Because it is an ett word, the adjective falsk (fake) takes the neuter -t ending to become falskt.

Does som om start a subordinate clause, and how does that affect word order?