Breakdown of Porträttet verkar visa en dyster man.
en
a, an (common)
mannen
the man
visa
to show
verka
to seem, to appear
Questions & Answers about Porträttet verkar visa en dyster man.
Why is there no att before visa here?
Even though verka is not a traditional modal verb like kan or ska, it acts as a semi-modal of impression. In modern Swedish, you drop the infinitive marker att directly after verka and tyckas.
Could I use tyckas instead of verkar in this sentence?
Yes, Porträttet tycks visa... works perfectly and means exactly the same thing. Tyckas is just slightly more formal or literary than verka. Both skip the att before the following infinitive.
Is visa the only way to say a portrait shows something?
Visa is the most common, everyday word here. At a B2 level, you can also use the slightly more advanced verb föreställa (to depict or represent). Porträttet verkar föreställa... sounds very natural when talking about art.
As a quick refresher, how would dyster change if it were describing the portrait instead of the man?
Since porträtt is a neuter (ett) noun, the adjective needs a -t ending. It would become ett dystert porträtt. Because man is an en word, dyster stays in its base form here.