Learn Hardcore German: Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert, aber das Verhältnis zwischen innerlich und äußerlich wirkt für mich ausgeglichener. - On the outside little has changed, but the relationship between inner and outer seems more balanced to me.

German main clauses are verb‑second (V2): exactly one element comes before the finite verb.
If you move äußerlich into that first position to emphasize it:

Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert.

then the dummy subject es can (and usually does) disappear. This is normal with impersonal es when something else is topicalized to the first position.

So:

First position: Äußerlich
Finite verb: hat
Middle field: sich wenig
Participle at the end: verändert

The logical subject is still the vague “it” (some situation, appearance, context), but the pronoun es is just dropped because it’s only a dummy, not a meaningful noun.

Why is it hat sich verändert and not ist verändert in this sentence?

There is an important difference:

hat sich verändert
- Auxiliary haben
  - reflexive sich
    - participle verändert
- Describes a process of change: has changed / has undergone change.
- Example:
  - In den letzten Jahren hat sich die Stadt sehr verändert.
    The city has changed a lot in recent years.
ist verändert
- Auxiliary sein
  - participle verändert, used adjectivally
- Describes a resulting state: is changed / is different now.
- Often you could rephrase with anders:
  - Die Stadt ist verändert. ≈ The city is (noticeably) different now.

In your sentence, the focus is on the process that has (not really) happened:

Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert.
On the outside, little has changed.

So the perfect of sich verändern with haben is the right choice.

Why is the verb verändern reflexive here (sich verändern) instead of just verändern?

German distinguishes:

jemanden / etwas verändern – transitive: to change someone/something
- Sie hat ihre Frisur verändert. – She changed her hairstyle.
- Wir müssen das System verändern. – We have to change the system.
sich verändern – reflexive: to change (oneself / itself), to undergo change
- Die Stadt hat sich verändert. – The city has changed.
- Mit der Zeit habe ich mich sehr verändert. – Over time I have changed a lot.

In Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert, the “thing” that changed is not given explicitly (it’s understood from context – maybe a person, a room, a city, etc.).
Because that thing is both the subject and the undergoer of the change, German uses the reflexive form sich verändern.

Why is the word order hat sich wenig verändert and not hat wenig sich verändert?

In the “middle field” (the part between the finite verb and the final verb), German tends to put unstressed pronouns early.

Basic rules (simplified):

Personal/reflexive pronouns (like mich, dich, sich, uns, euch, ihn, sie, es) usually come
- before adverbs (e.g. heute, oft, schon)
- and before “content words” like wenig, viel, alles, full noun phrases, etc.

So the natural order is:

hat sich wenig verändert
- sich (unstressed pronoun)
- wenig (indefinite quantifier)

hat wenig sich verändert sounds wrong to native speakers because it violates this very strong pronoun‑first tendency in the middle field.

What nuance does wenig have in hat sich wenig verändert compared to something like ein bisschen or nicht viel?

All three express “not much”, but the tone is slightly different:

wenig
- Neutral to slightly negative: little, not much.
- Can suggest “less than one might expect or want”.
- Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert.
  → On the outside, not much has changed (almost disappointingly little).
nicht viel
- Very close to wenig in meaning, often almost interchangeable.
- Slightly more colloquial in some contexts:
  - Äußerlich hat sich nicht viel verändert.
ein bisschen
- More positive: a little, somewhat.
- Focuses on the fact that some change did occur.
- Äußerlich hat sich ein bisschen etwas verändert.
  → On the outside, it has changed a bit.

So wenig fits well when you want to stress the small amount (almost “hardly any”) rather than highlight that there is some change.

What exactly does das Verhältnis mean in das Verhältnis zwischen innerlich und äußerlich?

das Verhältnis is a neuter noun and here means roughly:

“the relationship / balance / proportion / ratio”

In this sentence:

das Verhältnis zwischen innerlich und äußerlich
≈ the relationship (or balance) between the inner aspect and the outer aspect

It does not mean “relationship” in the romantic sense here (like ein Verhältnis haben = to have an affair), but the more abstract idea of how two aspects relate to each other, how well they match or are in balance.

Are innerlich and äußerlich adjectives or adverbs here, and why are they lower‑case after zwischen?

Both innerlich and äußerlich are adjectives that can also be used adverbially:

innerlich stark – strong on the inside
äußerlich schön – beautiful on the outside

In your sentence we have two uses:

Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert.
- Äußerlich is used adverbially → on the outside / externally.
das Verhältnis zwischen innerlich und äußerlich
- Here innerlich and äußerlich are adjectives used elliptically:
  - Short for something like zwischen der inneren Seite und der äußeren Seite,
    or zwischen inneren und äußeren Aspekten.
- There is no article (no das, dem, ein, im etc.), so orthographically they stay lower‑case.

If you made them clearly into nouns, you’d add an article and capitalize:

das Verhältnis zwischen dem Inneren und dem Äußeren
das Verhältnis zwischen Innerlichem und Äußerlichem

Those sound more abstract or formal. The original version is leaner and more colloquial.

What is the difference between wirkt, ist, and scheint in das Verhältnis … wirkt für mich ausgeglichener?

All three can in some way translate as “is / seems / appears”, but with different nuances:

ist ausgeglichener
- Neutral statement of fact: is more balanced.
- Sounds more objective.
wirkt ausgeglichener
- Literally: has a more balanced effect / comes across as more balanced.
- Emphasizes impression: how it looks/feels to someone, not an objective measurement.
- Very common in descriptions of appearance, atmosphere, style:
  - Der Raum wirkt größer. – The room feels/looks bigger.
scheint ausgeglichener (zu sein)
- Also “seems”, but often slightly more tentative or speculative, like:
  - It seems more balanced (though I’m not completely sure).

In your sentence:

… wirkt für mich ausgeglichener.
→ … comes across as more balanced to me.
It clearly marks that this is the speaker’s perception, not an absolute fact.

What does für mich add in wirkt für mich ausgeglichener, and could you also say wirkt auf mich ausgeglichener?

Both are possible, but with a nuance:

für mich
- Literally: for me.
- Here: “in my view / in my opinion / as I perceive it”.
- Emphasizes that this is the speaker’s subjective judgment:
  - Das wirkt für mich ausgeglichener.
    → To me / In my opinion, that seems more balanced.
auf mich
- Literally: on me.
- Used with wirken to describe a more direct effect on a person:
  - Die Musik wirkt auf mich beruhigend. – The music has a calming effect on me.

So:

wirkt für mich ausgeglichener = from my personal point of view, it seems more balanced.
wirkt auf mich ausgeglichener = it has the effect, on me, of being more balanced.

In this sentence, für mich is the more natural choice because the focus is on personal evaluation rather than an almost physical “effect on” someone.

Why is it ausgeglichenER (comparative) here and not just ausgeglichen?

ausgeglichen is an adjective meaning “balanced, even, in equilibrium”.

German forms the comparative of most adjectives by adding -er:

ruhig → ruhiger – calmer
freundlich → freundlicher – friendlier
ausgeglichen → ausgeglichener – more balanced

In the second clause:

… wirkt für mich ausgeglichener.

The comparative implies a comparison with a previous state:

Früher war das Verhältnis unausgeglichen, jetzt wirkt es für mich ausgeglichener.
Previously the relationship was unbalanced; now it seems more balanced to me.

If you said just ausgeglichen, you’d be saying it is balanced (full stop), without hinting that it used to be less balanced.

Why is there a comma before aber, and what does it tell us about the structure of the sentence?

The full sentence is:

Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert, aber das Verhältnis zwischen innerlich und äußerlich wirkt für mich ausgeglichener.

Here we have two main clauses:

Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert.
das Verhältnis zwischen innerlich und äußerlich wirkt für mich ausgeglichener.

They are linked by the coordinating conjunction aber (= but).

In German, when aber connects two independent clauses, you put a comma before it:

…, aber …

So the comma shows that we’re dealing with:

Clause 1: little external change
Contrast (aber)
Clause 2: but the inner/outer balance seems more balanced

Could I also say Innerlich und äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, you could:

Innerlich und äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert.

This would mean:

Internally and externally, little has changed.

That’s a different statement from the original:

Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert, aber das Verhältnis zwischen innerlich und äußerlich wirkt für mich ausgeglichener.

Original:

Outside: little change.
Inside vs. outside relationship: now more balanced.

Alternative:

Inside: little change.
Outside: little change.
No mention of any improved relationship between the two.

So grammatically it’s fine, but it doesn’t express the same idea.

What is the difference between innerlich and im Inneren, and between äußerlich and von außen?

They overlap in meaning but not in usage:

innerlich
- Often about inner life / feelings / character:
  - Er ist innerlich sehr stark. – He is very strong on the inside (emotionally).
- Can also refer to non‑physical, “inner” aspects in general.
im Inneren
- More spatial/physical: on the inside, in the interior.
- Im Inneren der Höhle war es dunkel. – Inside the cave it was dark.
äußerlich
- Usually about outward appearance / surface / external aspect:
  - Äußerlich hat sich wenig verändert.
von außen
- Literally “from the outside”, often used for direction/origin:
  - Das Haus sieht von außen schön aus. – The house looks nice from the outside.

In your sentence, innerlich / äußerlich are meant in the abstract, qualitative sense (inner vs. outer aspects of something), so those are the most natural choices.