Imagine you are a security guard keeping an eye on the department store monitors. To report what you see, you need to describe appearances and suspicious behavior.
| The security guard sits in the office and observes the screens. | Der Wachmann sitzt im Büro und beobachtet die Bildschirme. |
The Evidential Construction: scheinen zu
To say that someone "seems" to be doing something, German uses the verb scheinen (to seem) combined with zu and an infinitive verb.
Just like with modal verbs, scheinen is conjugated and takes the normal second position in the sentence. The action that the person "seems" to be doing is pushed to the very end of the sentence as an infinitive, preceded immediately by zu.
If you are describing how someone behaves, you can use the reflexive verb sich verhalten (to behave) alongside the adjective verdächtig (suspicious). Notice how the reflexive pronoun (sich) comes shortly after the conjugated scheint, while zu verhalten anchors the end of the sentence:
| He seems to behave extremely suspiciously. | Er scheint sich extrem verdächtig zu verhalten. |
This structure works for any action you observe on the cameras. All objects and prepositional phrases—like stealing a bag or reaching for jewelry—are sandwiched between scheinen and the zu-infinitive at the end.
| The shoplifter seems to be stealing a bag. | Der Ladendieb scheint eine Tasche zu stehlen. |
| The woman seems to be reaching inconspicuously for the jewelry. | Die Frau scheint unauffällig nach dem Schmuck zu greifen. |
Using scheinen with States of Being
Often, you aren't observing an action, but a state of being—for example, if your equipment appears to be broken. In this case, the infinitive at the end of the sentence is simply sein (to be).
| The surveillance camera unfortunately seems to be broken. | Die Überwachungskamera scheint leider kaputt zu sein. |