Parecer in Spanish: Ultimate Guide to Parecer Conjugation (with Table)

The verb parecer in Spanish has several meanings and nuances, and its equivalent in English, such as “to seem, to look, to look like, to appear…” can vary depending on the context.

This is one of the most important verbs in Spanish. That’s why today we’re going to make sure you learn chunks, useful phrases so you can learn to use the verb “parecer” like an expert.

1. What does parecer mean in Spanish?

In many cases, the verb “seem” is a valid option to translate “parecer” into English, but in other contexts, expressions such as “look,” “appear,” “resemble,” or “look like” can be used, depending on the specific thing you want to express.

Let’s look at many examples with each use of the verb parecer.

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2. Having a certain appearance with parecer

Pay close attention to the conjugation of parecer when it means having a certain appearance.

In this case, it is conjugated with all persons, that is:

Now, let’s check a real-life conversation:

Actor 1
No me gusta este vestido. Parezco monja cuando me lo pongo.
(I don’t like this dress. I look like a nun when I wear it.)

Actor 2
¿Y qué tiene de malo parecer monja?
(And what is wrong with looking like a nun?)

Actor 1
No, pues, nada en realidad. Simplemente, no me gusta parecer monja. Mira, en esta foto lo traigo puesto.
(No, well, nothing really. Simply, I don’t like to look like a nun. Look, in this picture I’m wearing it.)

Actor 2
A ver. No pareces monja. Pareces Merlina Adams. Había olvidado esta fiesta, amiga. Qué mal nos maquillamos ese día, amiga. Parecemos fantasmas.
(Let’s see. You don´t look like a nun. You look like Wednesday Adams. I had forgotten this party, girlfriend. We did our makeup so bad that day, girlfriend. We look like ghosts.)

Actor 1
A ver. ¡Oye sí! Tengo más fotos de ese día. Mira, mi prima parece borracha.
(Let’s see. Oh yeah! I have more pictures of that day. Look, my cousin seems like she’s drunk.)

Actor 2
No, no parece, estaba borracha.
(No, she doesn’t seem to be, she was drunk.)

Actor 1
Mira, aquí están los del equipo de futbol. Parecen clones todos. Con el mismo outfit, el mismo peinado.
(Look, here are the ones from the soccer team. They all look like clones. With the same outfit, the same hairstyle.)

Actor 3
Niñas, ¿qué hacen? Ya bajen a comer. Y siéntense bien. No parecen señoritas cuando se sientan así todas… desparramadas.
(Girls, what are you doing? Come down to have lunch already. And sit properly. You don’t look like ladies when you are seated that way all… sprawled.)

Pay attention here, because when we use “parecer” in this way, it sounds very similar to the use of the verb parecerse, but it is not the same. Check out this video by Maura where she explains the difference – and the corresponding article for parecer vs parecerse.

3. Giving the impression of being true and expressing opinion with parecer in Spanish

When we use the verb “parecer” together with “que“, “como si” or “como que“, we ALWAYS conjugate it in the third person singular, that is, we only use the word PARECE.

For example:

• Me parece que deberías suscribirte al canal, si no lo has hecho. (It seems to me that you should subscribe to the channel, if you haven’t.)
• Nos parece que usar chunks es la forma más rápida para aprender español (We find that using chunks is the fastest way to learn Spanish.)
• Mi mamá dice que parece como si no me maquillara para mis lecciones de Youtube, dice que me debería maquillar más. ¿A ustedes qué les parece? (My mom say I look like I don’t wear makeup for my YouTube lessons, she says I should wear more makeup. What do you guys think?)

Note that although we talk about the person yo, nosotros, ella and ustedes in all the sentences, we use the conjugation “parece“.

When we say “parece que” or “parece como si“, we are expressing that something gives the impression of being true according to what is said in the sentence that follows

Attention, in this case we can also use the indirect object pronoun ME, TE, LE, NOS, LES before PARECE.

Actor 2
Me parece que si este vestido no te gusta, deberías de sacarlo de tu clóset.
(It seems to me that if you don’t like this dress, you should take it out of your closet.)

Actor 1
Bueno… es que… no sé, tal vez lo podría usar algún día.
(Well… uh… I don’t know, maybe I could wear it one day.)

Actor 2
¿Cómo para qué? Si dijiste que pareces como que eres monja.
(Like for what? You said that you look like as if you were a nun.)

Actor 1
No sé… tal vez, ¿para un funeral?
(I don’t know… maybe, for a funeral?)

Actor 2
A mí no me parece bien que lo guardes. ¿No te parece como si estarías “manifestando” un funeral?
(I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep it. Doesn’t it seem to you that you would be like “manifesting” a funeral?)

Actor 1
Puede ser.
(It could be.)

In these dialogues we use ME parece, TE parece… The other pronouns are LE, NOS, LES. We will see them in the next dialogue:

Actor 1
Ma, tengo que sacar varias cosas de mi closet. ¿Qué le parece si llevo las cosas a la iglesia para donarlas?
(Mom, I have to take out a lot of things from my closet. What do you think if I take the stuff to church to donate them?)

Actor 3
Ok, hija. Me parece una buena idea. Le voy a preguntar al padre qué le parece si yo me encargo de organizar una jornada de donación de ropa.
(Ok, daughter. It seems to me like a good idea. I’m going to ask the father what he thinks if I take care of organizing a clothing donation drive.)

Actor 3
Padre, buenas tardes. Estaba platicando con mi hija, y nos parece que sería una buena idea organizar una jornada de donación de ropa.
Father, good afternoon. I was talking with my daughter, and it seems to us that it would be a good idea to organize a clothing donation drive.

Actor 4
¡Excelente idea! ¿Qué les parece si, además de ropa, también recolectamos juguetes para los niños?
(Excellent idea! What do you think if, in addition to clothes, we also collect toys for the children?)

Now pay close attention because a CHUNK ALERT is coming:

Todo parece indicar que…

Pay attention to how we use it in a conversation:

Actor 2
¿Cómo va lo de la jornada de donación para iglesia?
(How’s the donation drive for the church going?)

Actor 1
Todo parece indicar que vamos a sobrepasar nuestro objetivo.
(Everything seems to indicate that we are going to exceed our goal.)

Actor 2
¿En serio? No parece.
(Really? It doesn’t seem like it.)

Actor 1
Ah, es que esto parece poco, pero hay muchas más cosas en el garage. Los chicos de la iglesia ya vieron todo y les parece que vamos a tener mucho más que suficiente.
(Oh, this seems like it’s little but there are many more things in the garage. The guys from church have seen it all and it seems to them that we’re going to have more than enough.)

4. Table for indirect object conjugation with parecer