Sembrare

Sembrare is an Italian verb with two main senses: to seem or appear, and to resemble or look like. In its primary use, it expresses an impression or appearance of something, as in “Sembra una buona idea” (It seems like a good idea). It can also indicate resemblance, for example “Questo sembra un gatto, ma è un cane” (This looks like a cat, but it is a dog).

Usage and constructions

Sembrare can introduce statements about appearances with adjectives or nouns in the predicate. It also governs subordinate clauses introduced by che: “Sembra che sia vero” (It seems that it is true). In addition, it is common to use the di + infinitive construction to convey an impression about a situation: “Sembra di aver capito” (It seems that I understood). The verb is often replaced by pare in more formal or literary contexts, and pare remains common in everyday speech as a present tense form.

Conjugation and forms

Sembrare is a regular -are verb, with standard endings in most tenses. Present indicative forms include io sembro, tu sembri, lui/lei sembra, noi sembriamo, voi sembrate, loro sembrano. The imperfect is sembravo, sembravi, sembrava, sembravamo, sembravate, sembravano; the future is sembrerò, sembrerai, sembrerà, sembreremo, sembrerete, sembreranno. The past participle is sembrato and is used with auxiliary essere in compound tenses (è sembrato, sono sembrati, etc.).

See also

Parere is a more formal or literary synonym (pare/pareva), and is used in similar constructions, often with espressioni like pare che.