Parere: Full Conjugation

Parere (to seem, to appear) is one of those Italian verbs that looks intimidating on paper and turns out to be both narrower and stranger in real use than the conjugation table suggests. In writing — especially older or more formal prose — it covers the same ground as English "to seem" and "to appear." In everyday spoken Italian, however, most speakers reach instinctively for sembrare when they want to say "X seems Y," and reserve parere for a single high-frequency construction: the impersonal mi pare che + congiuntivo ("it seems to me that…"). That construction alone justifies learning the verb, because it is one of the most natural and idiomatic ways to soften an opinion in Italian.

The paradigm itself is irregular in three distinct directions at once. The present tense uses the -io ending pattern (paio, pari, pare, paiamo, parete, paiono), which it shares with piacere, tacere, and a small handful of cousins. The future and conditional contract to a doubled-r stem (parrò, parrei) — a pattern that catches learners who try to extend the regular par- stem. The passato remoto offers two competing irregular forms, parvi/parve/parvero and the slightly more colloquial parsi/parse/parsero, both of which are documented and accepted. The participle is the wholly irregular parso (never pareso or paruto), and compound tenses use essere, with the participle agreeing with the (often invisible) logical subject.

How parere actually behaves in modern Italian

Before the tables, a frank note on usage. Parere survives in three living patterns:

1. Impersonal opinion: mi pare, mi pareva, mi parrebbe

   • clause or adjective. This is by far the most common spoken use. Mi pare giusto ("That seems fair to me"), mi pareva strano ("it seemed strange to me").

2. Third-person predicative: pare che + congiuntivo ("it seems that…"). High-register but everyday in news and conversation. Pare che il governo cada ("It seems the government is about to fall").

3. Personal "to look like": Pari stanco ("You look tired"), paiono onesti ("they seem honest"). Less common than sembrare but perfectly natural.

Outside these three patterns — and outside literary or legal prose — most learners can substitute sembrare with no loss of meaning. This page covers the full paradigm because B1 readers will encounter the forms in writing and need to recognise them, but you should not feel obliged to deploy paio or paiamo in casual conversation. Most natives never use those forms in their lives.

Indicativo presente

The -io ending pattern is the standout oddity. The 1sg paio, 1pl paiamo, and 3pl paiono all insert an -i- before the ending — the same pattern you see in piacere → piaccio, tacere → taccio, giacere → giaccio. In parere, the surface effect is a glide that breaks up the cluster: the stem goes from par- in 2sg/3sg/2pl to pai- elsewhere. This is one of the older Italian patterns, inherited from Latin parēre through stress-conditioned vowel changes, and it has resisted regularisation for centuries.

The 3sg pare is the form you will see and use most often. It carries the impersonal weight of the verb: pare di sì ("it seems so"), pare di no ("apparently not"), pare strano ("it seems strange"). The 1sg paio is genuinely uncommon outside literary texts — modern speakers say sembro (from sembrare) instead.

Imperfetto

Fully regular on the par- stem — the -io quirk vanishes outside the present. The imperfect is heavily used in narrative for past impressions: mi pareva di sognare ("I felt like I was dreaming"), pareva una buona idea ("it seemed like a good idea"). This is one of the friendliest tenses of the verb because it patterns exactly like avere → avevo.

Passato remoto

Parere is one of a small set of verbs with two competing irregular passato remoto forms. The forms with -v- (parvi, parve, parvero) are the older, more literary, and grammatically preferred options — Treccani lists them first. The forms with -s- (parsi, parse, parsero) are documented but less common; they assimilate the verb to the -si pattern of valere → valsi, rimanere → rimasi. In contemporary writing, parve dominates. The 2sg, 1pl, and 2pl always revert to the regular par- stem (1-3-3 pattern).

Futuro semplice

The double r is the single most important spelling fact of this paradigm. The infinitive parere loses its medial e in the future and conditional, and the resulting r-r clash gets absorbed into a geminate: par-rò → parrò. This is the same contraction that produces bere → berrò, tenere → terrò, valere → varrò, volere → vorrò. Writing parerò is not a stylistic choice — it is a spelling error. The contracted form is universal in modern Italian.

Condizionale presente

Same contracted parr- stem. The 3sg parrebbe is the form you are most likely to actually use — in the formula mi parrebbe + adjective ("it would seem to me…"), a softer and more polite version of mi pare. Note the double m in parremmo — the Italian conditional 1pl ending -emmo is always spelled with a double m, distinguishing it from the future parremo with a single m.

Congiuntivo presente

The subjunctive is built from the pai- stem of the present 1sg, exactly as piaccia comes from piaccio. The three singular forms collapse into paia, used after the same triggers that demand any subjunctive: credo che, penso che, è strano che. Because parere is itself one of the prototypical subjunctive triggers (pare che + congiuntivo), you will rarely embed paia under another verb of opinion — but the form is fully grammatical when it occurs.

Congiuntivo imperfetto

Built regularly on the pare- stem with the standard -essi/-esse endings of second-conjugation imperfect subjunctive. Common in past hypotheticals: se mi paresse giusto, lo farei ("if it seemed right to me, I'd do it").

Imperativo

The imperative of parere is, in practical terms, non-existent. You cannot meaningfully command someone "seem!" The forms can be reconstructed in formal grammars (pari for tu, paia for Lei, paiamo for noi, parete for voi, paiano for loro plural formal), but they appear essentially never in real use. The closest living echo is the courtly non ti paia strano ("don't think it strange") — a fixed literary turn, not an everyday command.

Forme non finite

The participle parso is a true outlier — it is neither the regular -uto form (paruto does not exist) nor a transparent contraction. It descends from the same -rsus Latin participle pattern that gives persa (from perdere) and corso (from correre). Compound tenses use essere, and parso agrees with the logical subject:

The infinito itself, parere, doubles as a noun: il parere means "an opinion." A mio parere ("in my opinion") is one of the most common formulas in Italian discourse, used in newspapers, essays, and casual conversation alike.

Compound tenses with essere

Note the agreement on parso/parsa/parsi/parse, which follows the (often unspoken) logical subject — the thing that did the seeming. Le sue parole sono parse sincere ("his words seemed sincere") shows feminine plural agreement with parole.

The mi pare construction in detail

This is the pattern worth committing to muscle memory. Mi pare behaves syntactically like mi piace — the indirect-object pronoun marks the experiencer, and the verb agrees with the (impersonal) source of the impression. Three sub-patterns dominate:

Mi pare + adjective: mi pare giusto, mi pare assurdo, mi pare poco. The verb stays in the 3sg.

Mi pare di + infinitive: when the experiencer is also the implicit subject of the embedded verb. Mi pare di sognare ("I feel like I'm dreaming"), mi pare di averti già detto questo ("I think I've already told you this").

Mi pare che + congiuntivo: when the embedded clause has a different subject. Mi pare che tu abbia ragione ("It seems to me that you're right"). This is the most syntactically demanding form, and the one that distinguishes confident speakers.

Etymology, idioms, and derivatives

Parere descends from Latin parēre ("to appear, to obey"), the same root that gives English appear, apparent, transparent. The double meaning of "to seem" and "to obey" survives in the related verb apparire ("to appear, to come into view"), distinct from parere but historically a sibling.

The infinitive substantivises easily: il parere is "an opinion." Common phrases:

• a mio parere — in my opinion
• secondo il mio parere — according to my opinion (slightly more formal)
• chiedere un parere — to ask for an opinion
• un parere medico / legale — a medical / legal opinion
• pareri discordanti — conflicting opinions

The fixed turn pare di sì / pare di no ("it seems so / apparently not") is a daily-conversation shortcut. Per quel che pare ("from what it seems") opens hedged statements. The literary a chi più, a chi meno parve is a Dante-era turn meaning "to some more, to some less it seemed."

Derived adjectives include apparente (apparent) and trasparente (transparent), both inherited from the same par- "appear" root. (The Italian word parente, "relative", looks similar but comes from a different Latin verb — parĕre "to give birth" / parens, parentis "parent" — and is not historically related to parere "to seem".)

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

1. In modern speech, prefer sembrare for "to seem" with personal subjects. Use parere mainly in mi pare che + congiuntivo and the fixed pare di sì / pare di no.

2. The -io ending pattern (paio, paiamo, paiono) is shared with piacere and tacere. Recognise the pattern; you don't need to use paio in conversation.

3. The contracted future and conditional — parrò, parrei — are non-negotiable. Spelling parerò is wrong.

4. The participle is parso (not pareso), and compound tenses always use essere. The participle agrees with the logical subject.

5. The noun il parere ("opinion") is high-frequency, especially in a mio parere.

The verb is small in everyday use but rich in literary and idiomatic depth. Master mi pare che + congiuntivo first; everything else is recognition territory.