paraitre

Paraître is a French verb meaning to appear, to seem, or to be published. It can describe something coming into view, as in Le soleil paraît à l’horizon. It can express a sense of appearance or uncertainty in impersonal constructions, as in Il paraît que tout va bien. It also denotes publication or release of a work, as in Le livre paraît demain or Cette édition paraîtra en mai. The standard spelling uses a circumflex on the i: paraître; the unaccented form paraitre appears in some texts or when diacritics are omitted.

Grammatical notes: Paraître is irregular. In the present tense the forms are je parais, tu parais, il paraît, nous paraissons, vous paraissez, ils paraissent. The past participle is paru, used with the auxiliary avoir to form the passé composé (j’ai paru). Other tenses include imperfect: je paraissais; future: je paraîtrai; subjunctive present: que je paraisse. In literary texts one also finds the passé simple: je parus, il parut, ils parurent. The verb is typically intransitive when meaning “to appear” and can take a direct object in some senses with avoir in compound tenses (for example ce qui est paru).

Usage notes: In everyday French, paraître frequently introduces reported information with il paraît que. The expression à paraître is common in publishing to designate works that will be published soon. Paraître is related in meaning to apparaître and to synonyms such as sembler; the distinction between senses is often clear from context—appearing physically, seeming, or being published.