Would "Han verkar trött" mean the exact same thing?
Why could translation not be: "Han verkar att vara trott"?
You simply don’t use the infinitive marker ”att” with the verb ”verka”.
Can you not use blir trött here?
That would mean "becomes tired". Here we don't know if he's tired, he just looks like tired.
So, is there any way to not accidentally mix up vara and våra in a sentence?
Yes. The "å" or "a."
So would you say "vara" when someone looks tired and "blir" is more when you are talking about yourself being tired?
So, I'm not a native, but I'm pretty sure that "va" is always a correct alternative to "vara", except in very formal speech