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Parecer is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to appear”.
Below are all of the conjugations for parecer in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to appear |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | parecer |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está pareciendo) and past continuous (estaba pareciendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. appearing).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he parecido and hubiera parecido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have appeared).
| Gerundio / Gerund | pareciendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | parecido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I appear” or “they appear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | parezco |
| Tú | pareces |
| Él / Ella / Usted | parece |
| Nosotros / as | parecemos |
| Vosotros / as | parecéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parecen |
| Vos | parecés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I appeared” or “she appeared” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | parecí | I appeared |
| Tú | pareciste | You appeared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pareció | He / she / you appeared |
| Nosotros / as | parecimos | We appeared |
| Vosotros / as | parecisteis | You appeared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parecieron | They / you appeared |
| Vos | pareciste | You appeared |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was appearing” or “she was appearing” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | parecía | I was appearing |
| Tú | parecías | You were appearing |
| Él / Ella / Usted | parecía | He was / she was / you were appearing |
| Nosotros / as | parecíamos | We were appearing |
| Vosotros / as | parecíais | You were appearing |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parecían | They / you were appearing |
| Vos | parecías | You were appearing |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have appeared” and “she has appeared”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he parecido | I have appeared |
| Tú | has parecido | You have appeared |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha parecido | He has / she has / you have appeared |
| Nosotros / as | hemos parecido | We have appeared |
| Vosotros / as | habéis parecido | You have appeared |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han parecido | They / you have appeared |
| Vos | has parecido | You have appeared |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would appear” or “she would appear”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | parecería | I would appear |
| Tú | parecerías | You would appear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | parecería | He / she / you would appear |
| Nosotros / as | pareceríamos | We would appear |
| Vosotros / as | pareceríais | You would appear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parecerían | They / you would appear |
| Vos | parecerías | You would appear |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will appear” or “they will appear”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a parecer” means “They are going to appear”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pareceré | I will appear |
| Tú | parecerás | You will appear |
| Él / Ella / Usted | parecerá | He / she / you will appear |
| Nosotros / as | pareceremos | We will appear |
| Vosotros / as | pareceréis | You will appear |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parecerán | They / you will appear |
| Vos | parecerás | You will appear |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | parezca |
| Tú | parezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | parezca |
| Nosotros / as | parezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | parezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parezcan |
| Vos | parezcas |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | pareciera | pareciese |
| Tú | parecieras | pareciese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pareciera | pareciese |
| Nosotros / as | pareciéramos | pareciésemos |
| Vosotros / as | parecierais | parecieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parecieran | pareciesen |
| Vos | parecieras | pareciese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | pareciere |
| Tú | parecieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | pareciere |
| Nosotros / as | pareciéremos |
| Vosotros / as | pareciereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parecieren |
| Vos | parecieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “appear!” and “don’t appear!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | parece | no parezcas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | parezca | no parezca |
| Nosotros / as | parezcamos | no parezcamos |
| Vosotros / as | pareced | no parezcáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | parezcan | no parezcan |
| Vos | parecé | no parezcas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya parecido |
| Tú | hayas parecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya parecido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos parecido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis parecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan parecido |
| Vos | hayas parecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera parecido / hubiese parecido |
| Tú | hubieras parecido / hubieses parecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera parecido / hubiese parecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos parecido / hubiésemos parecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais parecido / hubieseis parecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran parecido / hubiesen parecido |
| Vos | hubieras parecido / hubieses parecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere parecido |
| Tú | hubieres parecido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere parecido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos parecido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis parecido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren parecido |
| Vos | hubieres parecido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté pareciendo |
| Tú | estés pareciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté pareciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos pareciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis pareciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén pareciendo |
| Vos | estés pareciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera pareciendo / estuviese pareciendo |
| Tú | estuvieras pareciendo / estuvieses pareciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera pareciendo / estuviese pareciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos pareciendo / estuviésamos pareciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais pareciendo / estuvieseis pareciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera pareciendo / estuviese pareciendo |
| Vos | estuvieras pareciendo / estuvieses pareciendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere pareciendo |
| Tú | estuvieres pareciendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere pareciendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos pareciendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis pareciendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere pareciendo |
| Vos | estuvieres pareciendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos parecés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos pareciste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos parecías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos parecerías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos parecerás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos parezcas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos parecieras / Vos pareciese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos parecé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no parezcas |
