as if

See also: Asif

English

Etymology

From Middle English as ȝif, alls iff (“as if”), from Old English *ealswā ġif, attested only as swā ġif (“as if”), equivalent to as +‎ if. Compare Dutch alsof (“as if”), Low German as of (“as if”), German als ob (“as if”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌæz‿ˈɪf/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• (unstressed form) IPA^(key): /əz‿ˈɪf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪf

Conjunction

as if

1. As though; in a manner suggesting.

   The old man stumbled, as if he were about to fall.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow — a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, […]

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 203:

     “ […] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 9, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.

   • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Scotland needed a victory by eight points to have a realistic chance of progressing to the knock-out stages, and for long periods of a ferocious contest looked as if they might pull it off.

2. In mimicry of.

   When the teacher’s back was turned, the class clown would hold his stomach as if he were ill.

Derived terms

• as-if rule
• look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards

Translations

as though

• Arabic: كَأَنَّ (ar) (kaʔanna), كَأَنَّمَا (kaʔannamā)
• Bulgarian: сякаш (bg) (sjakaš), все едно (vse edno)
• Catalan: com si
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 仿佛 (zh) (fǎngfú) or 彷彿 / 彷佛 (zh) (fǎngfú) (variant characters), 似乎 (zh) (sìhū), 好像 (zh) (hǎoxiàng)

• Danish: som om
• Dutch: alsof (nl)
• Esperanto: kvazaŭ (eo)
• Finnish: ikään kuin (fi), niin kuin (fi), kuin (fi), aivan kuin
• French: comme si (fr) (+ imperfect tense)
• Galician: como se
• Georgian: ვითომ (vitom)
• German: als ob (de), als wenn, als (de)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐍅𐌴 (swē)
• Greek: λες και (les kai)

  Ancient: ὡσάν (hōsán), ὡς ἄν (hōs án)

• Gujarati: જાણે (jāṇe)
• Hindi: मानो (māno)
• Hungarian: mintha (hu), akárha (hu)
• Indonesian: seakan-akan (id), seolah-olah (id)
• Italian: come se
• Japanese: (まるで...) (ja) (maru-de...) ...のようだ (ja) (...-no yō da)
• Kazakh: сияқты (siäqty)
• Latin: quasi (la), ceu (la)
• Maori: ētia
• Norwegian: som om, som (no)
• Occitan: coma se
• Old English: swelċe
• Persian: انگار (fa) (engâr), مثل اینکه (mesl-e inke)
• Polish: jakby (pl)
• Portuguese: como se (pt)
• Romanian: ca și cum, de parcă (informal or literary), parcă (ro) (informal or literary)
• Russian: как бу́дто (ru) (kak búdto), бу́дто (ru) (búdto), сло́вно (ru) (slóvno), ка́к бы (ru) (kák by)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: као да

  Roman: kao da

• Spanish: como si (+ imperfect subjunctive)
• Swedish: som om
• Tocharian B: ramt
• Turkish: sanki (tr), gibi (tr)
• Vietnamese: tựa hồ (vi)

in mimicry of

• Bulgarian: все едно (vse edno)
• Catalan: com si
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 仿佛 (zh) (fǎngfú) or 彷彿 / 彷佛 (zh) (fǎngfú) (variant characters), 似乎 (zh) (sìhū), 好像 (zh) (hǎoxiàng)

• Danish: som om
• Dutch: alsof (nl)
• Esperanto: kvazaŭ (eo)
• Finnish: ikään kuin (fi), aivan kuin
• French: comme si (fr) (+ imparfait tense)
• Georgian: ვითომც (vitomc), თითქოს (titkos)
• German: als ob (de), als (de)
• Greek: σαν (el) (san), λες και (les kai)
• Italian: come se
• Japanese: (まるで...) (ja) (maru-de...) ...のようだ (ja) (...-no yō da)
• Norwegian: som om, som (no)
• Old English: swelċe
• Persian: انگار (fa) (engâr), مثل اینکه (mesl-e inke)
• Polish: jakby (pl)
• Portuguese: como se (pt)
• Russian: как бу́дто (ru) (kak búdto), бу́дто (ru) (búdto), сло́вно (ru) (slóvno)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: као да

  Roman: kao da

• Spanish: como si (+ imperfect subjunctive)
• Swedish: som om

Interjection

as if

1. (idiomatic) Refers to something that the speaker deems highly unlikely.

   —I'm going to clean your whole house. —As if!

   • 1903, Frank Norris, The Pit: A Story of Chicago, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, →OL, page 10:

     “Better wait, hadn't you, Laura,” said Aunt Wess’, “and see. Maybe he'll come up and speak to us.” “Oh, as if!” contradicted Laura.

   • 1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Cher (Alicia Silverstone):

     Ooo! Get off of me! Uh, AS IF!

Translations

interjection

• Bulgarian: как ли пък не (kak li pǎk ne)
• Catalan: sí clar! (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 別瞎說 / 别瞎说 (bié xiāshuō), 才怪 (zh) (cáiguài), 豈有此理 / 岂有此理 (zh) (qǐyǒucǐlǐ)

• Danish: som om
• Dutch: tuurlijk (nl), vast (nl)
• Finnish: tuskinpa
• French: genre (fr), mais bien sûr (fr)
• Georgian: ნუთუ (nutu)
• German: als ob (de), von wegen, klar (de); all typically preceded by ja (de)
• Hindi: घंटा (hi) (ghaṇṭā), अजी हाँ (ajī hā̃)
• Hungarian: ugyan már!
• Italian: come no (it), già già, magari (it)
• Norwegian: liksom! (no)
• Portuguese: ah, sim, até parece
• Romanian: nu mai spune! serios?
• Russian: неуже́ли (ru) (neužéli), е́сли бы (ru) (jésli by), ска́жешь то́же (skážešʹ tóže), да коне́чно (da konéčno)
• Scottish Gaelic: mas fhìor
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мо'ш мислит', да баш, мало морген, мало сутра, како да не

  Roman: mo'š mislit', da baš (sh), malo morgen, malo sutra, kako da ne

• Spanish: ¡cómo no!, ¡sí cómo no!
• Swedish: jo tjena

Anagrams

• AFIS, AFIs, FISA, IFAs, ISAF, Safi, Saif, saif