Breakdown of Den här färgskalan verkar vara mycket dyster.
vara
to be
mycket
much / very
den här
this (en)
verka
to seem, to appear
Questions & Answers about Den här färgskalan verkar vara mycket dyster.
Why is there no att before vara in this sentence?
The verb verkar (seems) acts as a semi-modal verb of impression. Just like true modal verbs (such as kan or måste), it is followed directly by the bare infinitive of the next verb. Therefore, we say verkar vara instead of verkar att vara. The exact same rule applies to the verb tycks.
Why does färgskalan have the definite ending -n when it comes after den här?
Swedish uses double definiteness with demonstrative pronouns like den här and det där. You need both the demonstrative phrase (den här) and the definite form of the noun (färgskalan) to correctly express this color palette.
How does verkar compare to tycks in this context?
Both verbs translate to the English verb seems, and both drop the att before the following infinitive. However, verkar is much more common in everyday spoken Swedish and often implies a subjective impression, like your personal feeling about these colors. Tycks is slightly more formal and is often used for more objective observations.
If the sentence were about a neutral ett-word, like ett rum (a room), how would the end of the sentence change?