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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.

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### 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:

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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.

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### 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).

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The verb 'to seem' (scheinen zu)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the security guard	der Wachmann
The security guard sits in the office and observes the screens.	Der Wachmann sitzt im Büro und beobachtet die Bildschirme.
the department	die Abteilung
suspicious	verdächtig
A man in the department looks very suspicious.	Ein Mann in der Abteilung sieht sehr verdächtig aus.
to seem	scheinen
to behave	sich verhalten
He seems to behave extremely suspiciously.	Er scheint sich extrem verdächtig zu verhalten.
inconspicuous	unauffällig
The customer is behaving completely inconspicuously.	Der Kunde verhält sich völlig unauffällig.
the shoplifter	der Ladendieb
The shoplifter seems to be stealing a bag.	Der Ladendieb scheint eine Tasche zu stehlen.
the escalator	die Rolltreppe
The people on the escalator seem to be leaving the department.	Die Leute auf der Rolltreppe scheinen die Abteilung zu verlassen.
the shop window	das Schaufenster
The man is leaving the shop window quickly because he sees the security guard.	Der Mann verlässt das Schaufenster schnell, weil er den Wachmann sieht.
to grab	greifen
The woman seems to be reaching inconspicuously for the jewelry.	Die Frau scheint unauffällig nach dem Schmuck zu greifen.
the surveillance camera	die Überwachungskamera
The security guard needs the surveillance camera to observe the shop window.	Der Wachmann braucht die Überwachungskamera, um das Schaufenster zu beobachten.
The surveillance camera unfortunately seems to be broken.	Die Überwachungskamera scheint leider kaputt zu sein.
The shoplifter seems to reach for the bag on the escalator.	Der Ladendieb scheint auf der Rolltreppe nach der Tasche zu greifen.