Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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'.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

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).

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

Yes, som om introduces a subordinate clause. This means the subject (det) comes right after the conjunction, followed by the verb (vore). Importantly, if you wanted to add a sentence adverb like inte (not), it would have to go before the verb according to the BIFF rule: ...som om det inte vore falskt.

Hennes leende såg ut som om det vore falskt.

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