Como si fuera (tan) fácil

Question

Tan is not needed for this to work right? In English you sort of need the "so" to create the phrase - as if it were that (so) easy! but you don't need it in Spanish do you? It can be both ways?

Como si fuera fácil

Como si fuera tan fácil

and they both work, right?. Gracias.

"as if it were easy" and "as if it were so/that easy" aren't exactly the same in English, either. - samdie, Apr 17, 2011

exactly my point Samdie, that is the point of this question, to find out if they are exactly the same in Spanish, unlike English - jeezzle, Apr 18, 2011

Answer 1

Work?

Como si fuera fácil = As if it was easy

Como si fuera tan fácil = As if it was so/that easy

Work for what? What do you want to say?

As if it were easy. (although many English speakers would use "was"). - samdie, Apr 17, 2011

Answer 2

Como si fuera tan facil- as if it were so/that easy

Como si fuera facil- as if it were easy

Since you're using imperfect subjunctive in both of them the idiomatic expression is obvious. And it depends on what you're trying to say.

Answer 3

It means almost the same, but using "tan" you intensify the semantic meaning of the sentence, so if you use "tan" it could seem more dificult to paint the house in your example... Recuerdos desde Madrid.

Answer 4

both are Ok. como si fuera facil. como si fuera tan facil.

Answer 5

Work for what? What do you want to say?

Example:

If you think your house is ugly why don't you just paint it?

¿Si crees que tu casa es tan fea porque simplemente no la pintas?

As if it were that easy! (As if it were easy doesn't work as a saying here in English because that/ so (tan) is almost idiomatic there)

But in Spanish either

Como si fuera fácil OR

Como si fuera tan fácil

work there, right? Gracias.

Not really. Si crees que tu casa es fea -If you think you house is ugly. Si crees que tu casa es tan fea - If you think your house is *so* ugly.... So both work, yeah, but they mean somewhat different things. - Gekkosan, Apr 16, 2011