When critiquing art, you often share your personal impressions. To express how a painting or exhibition "seems" or "appears," Swedish uses the verbs tyckas and verka.
Dropping the infinitive marker "att"
Like modal verbs, tyckas and verka connect directly to a following infinitive. You must omit the infinitive marker att (to).
| The painting seems to express a gloomy feeling. | Målningen tycks uttrycka en dyster känsla. |
Notice how verkar connects directly to vara (to be) without an att in between:
| This color palette seems to be very gloomy. | Den här färgskalan verkar vara mycket dyster. |
This rule remains consistent for any description:
| The exhibition seems to lack harmony. | Utställningen tycks sakna harmoni. |
| The artwork seems to have thick and short brushstrokes. | Konstverket tycks ha tjocka och korta penseldrag. |
"Att" as a conjunction
Do not confuse the infinitive marker att (to) with the conjunction att (that). In the sentence below, the conjunction att connects two clauses, but the infinitive marker is still correctly omitted after verkar:
| I think that the first brushstroke seems to be superficial. | Jag tycker att det första penseldraget verkar vara ytligt. |
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