Norwegian: det ser ut til

[littlepond]

Hei alle sammen!

I came across this sentence in a dictionary: "Det ser ut til at ingen visste hva som var hendt." Sorry, as it's from a dictionary, there's no context as such, but I guess it means "It appears that no one knew what had happened."

Now my question is about the "til at" part. I have often noticed "ser ut" combined with "om som" (kind of "as if" in English), for example: "Det ser ut som om han kommer til å vinne" (this sentence also from the dictionary). These seem clear in my mind.

But then there are some like "Det ser ut til regn", where one uses "til". Is it simply because "regn" is a noun here, and "om" (whether, if) is impossible? There is "Det ser ut til å gå dårlig": can it be replaced with "det ser ut om som det går dårlig" (maybe less elegant, but is the grammar still ok and the meaning the same?). I am probably stumped by the usage of preposition "til" in these phrases, which usually is a very directional preposition in my mind. But the most I get confused is when I read the sentence I mentioned earlier: "Det ser ut til at ingen visste hva som var hendt." Could one have said, "Det ser ut om som ingen visste hva som var hendt." Of course, maybe this double usage of "som" is inelegant, but would the sentence have retained the same meaning, plus have been grammatically fine?

Thanks everyone!

 

[raumar]

Hei! This is also a phrasal verb: "se ut til" means "appear". You should read the sentence this way :"Det [ser ut til] [at ingen visste hva som var hendt]."

Your translation "It appears that no one knew what had happened." is fine.

Could one have said, "Det ser ut om som ingen visste hva som var hendt."

It should be "som om", but apart from that, your sentence is fine .

There may be a nuance here. "Det ser ut til..." is often used to say that something is likely or probable. "Det ser ut som om..." is also used that way, but is also used to say that something looks as if it is X, while it actually is Y.

 

[littlepond]

Thanks a lot, @raumar!