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Questions & Answers about Sie wirkt ruhig, doch innerlich spürt sie die Enttäuschung über das Ergebnis.
What does wirkt mean here, and how is it different from ist or scheint?
wirkt comes from wirken and here means “to appear / to come across (as)”.
- Sie wirkt ruhig = She appears calm / She comes across as calm
- Sie ist ruhig = She is calm (states it as a fact)
- Sie scheint ruhig (zu sein) = She seems to be calm (more tentative, based on impressions)
wirken is often used for the impression someone or something makes on others, and it’s a bit more neutral and common in everyday speech than scheinen in this kind of sentence.
Why is ruhig written without an ending (not ruhige or ruhiger) after wirkt?