Breakdown of Katten stirrade på väggen som om en mus satt där.
en
a, an (common)
katten
the cat
där
there
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
Questions & Answers about Katten stirrade på väggen som om en mus satt där.
Does satt (sat) just match the past tense of stirrade (stared), or is there another reason it is in the past tense?
It is specifically because som om (as if) sets up an unreal or imaginary comparison. To show a situation is hypothetical, Swedish uses the past tense, just like English does. Even if the cat were staring right now (Katten stirrar), you would still use the past tense satt to mean as if a mouse were sitting there.
Could I use var (was) or vore (were) instead of satt here?
Grammatically, you could say som om en mus vore där (as if a mouse were there). However, Swedish heavily prefers positional verbs like sitta (to sit), stå (to stand), or ligga (to lie) to describe where something is located. Since a small animal typically crouches or sits, satt sounds much more natural and descriptive than just saying it was there.
Does som om change the word order of the sentence?
Yes, som om acts as a subordinating conjunction, which means it starts a subordinate clause. The normal subordinate word order applies here: the subject comes first (en mus), followed by the verb (satt). If you wanted to add a negative word like inte (not), it would go before the verb due to the BIFF rule: som om en mus inte satt där.
Why do we use på after stirrade?