Questions & Answers about Det ser ut til å bli kaldt i kveld.
What does det mean here? Is it referring to something specific?
Here, det is a dummy subject or formal subject. It does not refer to a specific thing.
Norwegian often uses det in weather expressions and in general statements, much like English it in:
- It is cold
- It looks like rain
- It seems strange
So in Det ser ut til å bli kaldt i kveld, det is just the grammatical subject needed to make the sentence work.
What does ser ut til mean as a whole?
Ser ut til means looks like or seems likely to.
It is a very common expression in Norwegian:
- Det ser ut til å regne. = It looks like it’s going to rain.
- Hun ser ut til å være trøtt. = She looks/seems to be tired.
In your sentence, ser ut til å bli means looks like it’s going to become / looks like it will be.
A useful way to learn it is as a chunk:
det ser ut til å + infinitive
Why is there an å before bli?