The verb "Parecer"

Question

In my spanish 2 class, we are learning about verbs that are similar to gustar, where what you think would be the subject is actually the indirect object. I pretty much understand this concept but the verb paracer confuses me. According to the the textbook, these verbs can only be conjugated in the third person form. So does that mean I cannot say: "Me pareces simpático" to mean you seem nice to me?

Also, can you put a subject after the verb parecer, like: "Me parece el helado rico" to mean the ice cream seems tasty to me?

Any help on this matter would be appriecated.

Bienvenida al foro. Welcome to the forum. - 0074b507, Nov 17, 2010

Answer 1

You might be interested in this:

Yo parezco
Tú pareces El parece Nosotros parecemos Ustedes parecen Ellos parecen

--Eso parece

I don't know why does your book says that you can't conjugate it in more persons.

Another examples.

Ella se parece a mi hermana. (She is like my sister.)

Pareces estar en lo correcto. (You seem to be right.)

Ellos parecen ser británicos. (They appear to be british.)

El helado me parece rico. (The ice cream seems tasty to me.)

Answer 2

yes you can say me pareces.. and you can say me gustas, which means I like you

Answer 3

Paracer = to seem, to appear and it is first to sixth person like most other verbs so it is not like the verb gustar, In its reflexsive form Paracerse it means to look alike, to resemble and here you would use a reflexsive pronoun i.e. Te parece Tom Hanks. You look like Tom Hanks.

"its reflexsive..." - not "it's" - pesta, Nov 17, 2010

Yes of course, you are right as it's means it is and one wouldn't say in it is reflexsive form, thank you for pointing that out I will correct it so as not to mislead english learners. - kenwilliams, Nov 17, 2010

There are only 3 persons, don't make it more confusing by changing the grammar vocabulary. - 0074b507, Nov 17, 2010

Yes of course Q I should have said first to third person singular and plural adding up to six congugations, silly me. - kenwilliams, Nov 18, 2010

Answer 4

"Me pareces simpático" is totally fine. "Me parece el helado rico" sounds kind of funny (a little bit caveman like), it will be better to say : "El helado parece rico".

PD: It's correct to say "A little bit caveman like"?

Thank you for your response, and yes it is fine to say "a little bit caveman like" but it would probably be better to say "a little bit like a caveman" - Kimbos, Nov 17, 2010

Thank you ; ) - TaniaSalazar, Nov 17, 2010

Answer 5

Yes, You can conjugate the verb parecer in all the persons just like the verb gustar .. for example : a mi me gustas tu .. I like you (you are pleasing to me " litereally " ) ,, I can even say .. a ti como te parezo yo ? how do I look/appear/seem to you..

It is completely incorrect that parcer can only be conjugated in the 3rd person only.

There are some verbs which in real life situations would only be used in 3rd person singular but parecer is definitely not one of them

For example : Llover or Nevar : You will obviously not say (yo lluevo or I am raining .. unless you think of your self to be a cloud hahaha or you might be talking figuratively).

But parcer my friend is as good in scope as Gustar is ..