Fala Gringo › Verbs › parecer
parecer — to seem, to look like
Full conjugation of parecer in the tenses that matter for everyday speech, with pronunciation hints in the Rio (carioca) accent and example sentences the way Brazilians actually talk — not textbook European Portuguese.
How to use parecer in Brazilian Portuguese
Parecer is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to seem, to look like. It is a regular -er verb, so once you know the endings there are no surprises — only the spelling shifts in pareço to keep the sound of the stem, which is orthography, not irregularity.
Three tenses do almost all the work in conversation. The presente covers the present and the near future: eu pareço — I seem / look like. The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu pareci — I seemed / looked like. The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu parecia — I used to seem / look like / was seeming.
Said the Rio way, pareço sounds like pah-REH-soo. The nós form parecemos ends in the carioca “sh”, pah-reh-SEH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.
Presente — present tense
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | pareçoI seem / look like | pah-REH-soo | Eu pareço cansado hoje. |
| você / ele / ela | pareceyou seem / look like | pah-REH-see | Você parece preocupado, tá tudo bem? |
| nós | parecemoswe seem / look like | pah-reh-SEH-moosh | Nós parecemos irmãos. |
| vocês / eles / elas | parecemyou all seem / look like | pah-REH-seng | Vocês parecem irmãos, né? |
Pretérito Perfeito — simple past
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | pareciI seemed / looked like | pah-reh-SEE | Eu pareci bobo naquela hora. |
| você / ele / ela | pareceuyou seemed / looked like | pah-reh-SEH-oo | Você pareceu chateado, aconteceu algo? |
| nós | parecemoswe seemed / looked like | pah-reh-SEH-moosh | Nós parecemos perdidos no meio da rua. |
| vocês / eles / elas | pareceramyou all seemed / looked like | pah-reh-SEH-rahng | Vocês pareceram cansados depois da viagem? |
Pretérito Imperfeito — past habitual, “used to”
| Person | Form | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | pareciaI used to seem / look like / was seeming | pah-reh-SEE-ah | Eu parecia mais novo naquela foto. |
| você / ele / ela | pareciayou used to seem / look like / were seeming | pah-reh-SEE-ah | Você parecia tímido quando criança? |
| nós | parecíamoswe used to seem / look like / were seeming | pah-reh-SEE-ah-moosh | Nós parecíamos sempre atrasados. |
| vocês / eles / elas | pareciamyou all used to seem / look like / were seeming | pah-reh-SEE-ahng | Vocês pareciam irmãos de verdade? |