A părea means to seem, to appear. It is a second-conjugation verb (the -ea class), and although it has a complete personal paradigm, in everyday Romanian it lives mostly in two impersonal patterns: the dative idiom îmi pare rău / bine ("I'm sorry / glad") and the evidential se pare că ("it seems that"). Mastering those two patterns gives you most of the verb's real-world use, so this page treats the full conjugation first and then drills the constructions.
The grammar to watch: in the dative pattern, the experiencer is not the subject but a dative pronoun (îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le), exactly like a plăcea and a trebui. The clause or noun that "seems" is what controls the verb, which is why you so often see the frozen 3rd-singular pare. Note also the stem alternation ă → a in the 3rd singular present (par → pare) and the subjunctive să pară.
Prezent indicativ
The 1st singular and 3rd plural are bare (par); the 3rd singular shows ă → a in the stem (pare).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | par |
| tu | pari |
| el / ea | pare |
| noi | părem |
| voi | păreți |
| ei / ele | par |
Pari obosit — n-ai dormit destul?
You seem tired — didn't you sleep enough?
Filmul pare lung, dar trece repede.
The film seems long, but it goes by fast.
Imperfect
Second-conjugation imperfect: the stem păr- plus the -eam endings.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | păream |
| tu | păreai |
| el / ea | părea |
| noi | păream |
| voi | păreați |
| ei / ele | păreau |
Părea că totul e în regulă, dar nu era.
It seemed like everything was fine, but it wasn't.
Perfect compus
The everyday past: the auxiliary a avea plus the participle părut.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | am părut |
| tu | ai părut |
| el / ea | a părut |
| noi | am părut |
| voi | ați părut |
| ei / ele | au părut |
Mi-a părut rău că n-am putut veni la nuntă.
I was sorry I couldn't come to the wedding.
Mai-mult-ca-perfectul
The synthetic pluperfect, built on the participle stem păruse-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | părusem |
| tu | păruseși |
| el / ea | păruse |
| noi | păruserăm |
| voi | păruserăți |
| ei / ele | păruseră |
Totul păruse simplu până am început efectiv treaba.
Everything had seemed simple until I actually started the work.
Viitor
Romanian has a formal future with voi + infinitive and a colloquial everyday future with o să + conjunctiv.
| Person | Viitor (voi-form, formal) | Colloquial (o să) |
|---|---|---|
| eu | voi părea | o să par |
| tu | vei părea | o să pari |
| el / ea | va părea | o să pară |
| noi | vom părea | o să părem |
| voi | veți părea | o să păreți |
| ei / ele | vor părea | o să pară |
Dacă spui asta acum, o să pari nepoliticos.
If you say that now, you'll come across as rude.
Conjunctiv prezent
The 3rd person takes the special subjunctive stem pară (not the indicative pare).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | să par |
| tu | să pari |
| el / ea | să pară |
| noi | să părem |
| voi | să păreți |
| ei / ele | să pară |
Nu vreau să par disperat, dar chiar am nevoie de ajutor.
I don't want to seem desperate, but I really need help.
Condițional prezent
Formed with the conditional auxiliary (aș, ai, ar, am, ați, ar) plus the short infinitive părea. The 3rd-singular conditional ar părea is itself a common hedging phrase ("it would seem").
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | aș părea |
| tu | ai părea |
| el / ea | ar părea |
| noi | am părea |
| voi | ați părea |
| ei / ele | ar părea |
După cum stau lucrurile, ar părea că am pierdut trenul.
The way things stand, it would seem we've missed the train.
Imperativ
A părea has no everyday imperative — you cannot command someone to "seem." The forms are theoretically pari! / păreți!, but they do not occur in natural speech; instead Romanian uses a subjunctive purpose clause (ca să pari... — "so that you seem...").
Forme nepersonale
| Form | Romanian |
|---|---|
| Infinitiv | (a) părea |
| Gerunziu | părând |
| Participiu | părut |
| Supin | de părut |
Usage
There are three core patterns. (1) Personal, with an adjective: a părea + adjective, where the verb agrees with its subject — Pari supărat ("You seem upset"). (2) The dative idiom îmi pare: literally "it seems ... to me," with a dative experiencer. The fixed collocations are îmi pare rău ("I'm sorry / I regret") and îmi pare bine ("I'm glad / nice to meet you"). (3) The impersonal evidential se pare că ("it seems that"), reporting an impression about a whole situation. The dative version of this — îmi pare că — adds a personal "it seems to me that."
Îmi pare rău, n-am vrut să te supăr.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.
Îmi pare bine de cunoștință!
Nice to meet you!
Se pare că plouă toată săptămâna.
It seems it's going to rain all week.
Îmi pare că am mai văzut filmul ăsta undeva.
It seems to me I've seen this film somewhere before.
Pe afară pare frig, dar e plăcut la soare.
It looks cold outside, but it's pleasant in the sun.
Common Mistakes
Don't make yourself the grammatical subject of îmi pare rău:
❌ Eu par rău că am întârziat.
Incorrect — the experiencer is dative îmi, and the verb stays at pare.
✅ Îmi pare rău că am întârziat.
I'm sorry I'm late.
Don't conjugate the verb in se pare că — it is frozen impersonal:
❌ Ei se par că vin mâine.
Incorrect — the evidential is invariable: se pare că.
✅ Se pare că vin mâine.
It seems they're coming tomorrow.
Don't use the indicative pare in the subjunctive 3rd person:
❌ Nu vreau să pare că mă laud.
Incorrect — the subjunctive 3rd person is pară.
✅ Nu vreau să pară că mă laud.
I don't want it to seem like I'm bragging.
Don't confuse îmi pare rău (regret/apology) with mă doare (physical pain):
❌ Îmi pare rău capul.
Incorrect — for physical pain use a durea: mă doare capul.
✅ Mă doare capul.
My head hurts.
Now practice Romanian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Class II Present: -ea VerbsA2 — How to conjugate the small but high-frequency Class II (-ea) verbs in the present indicative, with full paradigms for a vedea, a putea, and a plăcea.
- Dative Experiencer Verbs (a-i plăcea, a-i conveni)B1 — The Romanian 'gustar-type' verbs where the person is a dative clitic and the thing experienced is the grammatical subject that controls verb agreement — a-i plăcea, a-i păsa, a-i lipsi and friends.
- Impersonal and Defective Verbs OverviewB1 — Verbs that live only in the 3rd person singular with no personal subject — weather verbs, trebuie, există, pare — and why Romanian uses no dummy 'it' the way English does.
- a plăcea — to be pleasing (to like)A1 — Full conjugation of the second-conjugation verb a plăcea, the dative-experiencer verb behind îmi place, where the thing liked is the grammatical subject and controls agreement — Romanian's gustar.
- a crede — to believeA2 — Full conjugation of a crede (to believe, to think), a class III verb with the d→z alternation, and the indicative/subjunctive mood split after cred că vs nu cred să.