Which is the correct way to write this?

Question

The translators place this sentence in the imperfect subjunctive, but i don't see it like that.

He talked to me as if i was interested.

El me hablo como si fuera interesado El me hablo como si estuviera interesado El me hablo como si estaba interesado.

which one is correct? is it the "As if" that makes it subjunctive? i thought it was more preterit than imperfect. tell me what makes it imperfect subjunctive...unless the three translator tools were wrong(which i know they are very frequently)

Good question! I am curious as to the answer as well. Just wanted you to know I corrected your title for capitilzation. That is important here since it is a language learning site and people are learning English as well. Hope you don't mind. - Nicole-B, ENE 12, 2010

The first way means something like,"he talked to me as if I were an interesting person." I think what you trying to say is the second one, which means something along the lines of, "He talked to me as if I were interested." (in what he was saying). - jniendorf88, ENE 12, 2010

The third way is grammatically incorrect. - jniendorf88, ENE 12, 2010

Answer 1

Already answered.

Answer 2

The "As if" does make this sentence subjunctive because it suggests that in reality, you are not interested.

I think, because of the nature of the sentence construction, that it would be proper to say, "Él me habla como si estuviera interesado."

What makes it imperfect subjective is that in addition to being subjective, whether or not you were interested in something cannot be placed easily within a definite time frame, which is typically the criteria for using the imperfect over the subjunctive.