Казаться / Показаться (to seem)

Infinitive (imperfective): каза́ться — "to seem, to appear (be in a state of seeming)" Infinitive (perfective): показа́ться — "to seem (to strike one once), to come into view" Type: a reflexive verb with the з→ж consonant mutation and an instrumental predicate

каза́ться is the verb Russians reach for whenever an English speaker would say "to seem" or "to appear." It does two jobs at once. As a linking verb it connects a subject to a predicate in the instrumental case — Он каза́лся у́мным "He seemed clever" — and it usually carries a dative experiencer, the person to whom it seems. Frozen into the third person it gives Мне ка́жется, что… "It seems to me that…", the polite, hedging opener that softens almost any opinion. Two traps trip up learners: the predicate must be instrumental, not nominative, and the я-form mutates з→ж to give кажу́сь, not казю́сь. Both are explained below.

Present tense (каза́ться, imperfective)

Only the imperfective каза́ться has a present. The underlying з surfaces as ж right across the present — the whole tense is built on the каж- stem (кажу́сь, ка́жешься, ка́жется, ка́жутся), so once you have the first form the rest follow without further surprises. The reflexive particle is -сь after a vowel, -ся after a consonant.

This is a first-conjugation pattern with a mobile stress that lands on the stem in every form except the я-form: кажу́сь is end-stressed, but ка́жешься, ка́жется, ка́жутся are stem-stressed. The single most frequent form by far is the third-person singular ка́жется.

The frozen impersonal: Мне ка́жется, что…

The third-person singular ка́жется has a life of its own as an impersonal opener. With a dative person and a что-clause it means "It seems to me that…": Мне ка́жется, что он прав "It seems to me that he's right." Russians use it constantly to soften an assertion — it is the difference between baldly stating an opinion and floating it tentatively. The past is каза́лось: Мне каза́лось, что… "It seemed to me that…". You can also drop it in parenthetically: Он, ка́жется, уе́хал "He's left, it seems."

Past tense

A regular gender-marked past off the -а- stem, with the reflexive particle. Stress stays on ка- throughout (каза́лся, каза́лась…), and there are no surprises.

The aspect contrast is subtle here. Imperfective каза́лся describes an ongoing impression — how something looked over a stretch of time ("seemed, used to seem"). Perfective показа́лся marks the moment the impression struck — "it suddenly seemed, it struck me": Мне показа́лось, что кто́-то вошёл "I had the feeling someone came in." Note that perfective показа́ться also means "to appear, come into view" (a literal sense: Из-за туч показа́лось со́лнце "The sun came out from behind the clouds").

Future tense

The pair forms its future the two standard ways.

• каза́ться (imperfective) → compound future: бу́ду каза́ться "I'll seem / will be seeming."
• показа́ться (perfective) → simple future (conjugated above): покажу́сь "I'll seem / I'll appear (once)."

In the future the impersonal пока́жется is again the most useful: Снача́ла пока́жется тру́дно, пото́м привы́кнешь "It'll seem hard at first, then you'll get used to it."

Imperative

The imperfective imperative is essentially unused — you do not normally order someone to "be seeming." The everyday imperative you actually hear is the perfective покажи́сь, but in its concrete sense "show yourself, appear / let yourself be seen," not in the "seem" sense: Покажи́сь врачу́ "Go and see the doctor (let the doctor look at you)."

Participles and verbal adverbs

The most useful is the present active participle ка́жущийся "apparent, seeming," used adjectivally to mean "merely apparent": ка́жущаяся просто́та "apparent (deceptive) simplicity," ка́жущееся споко́йствие "an apparent calm." It is (literary / written) in flavour. The verbal adverbs are rare.

Key uses & collocations

1. каза́ться + instrumental predicate

When каза́ться links a subject to a quality, that quality goes in the instrumental, exactly like the instrumental predicate after быть in the past and future: Он каза́лся у́мным (instrumental у́мным), Она́ ка́жется ми́лой (instrumental ми́лой). This is the same case logic explained on the instrumental predicate page and shared by the instrumental-government verbs family. A noun predicate is also instrumental: Он каза́лся ребёнком "He seemed like a child."

2. Мне ка́жется + dative experiencer

The person to whom something seems is in the dative: мне, тебе́, ему́, ей, нам, им. This dative is what makes ка́жется an opinion-softener — see the dative subject page for the broader experiencer pattern. Without the dative, ка́жется is a general impression; with it, it is your impression.

3. показа́ться = to come into view / appear

The literal, physical sense of perfective показа́ться is "to appear, become visible, come out": the sun, a face at a window, a ship on the horizon. Here there is no instrumental predicate — it is a verb of appearing.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• каза́ться / показа́ться takes an INSTRUMENTAL predicate: Он каза́лся у́мным, Она́ ка́жется ми́лой — never the nominative.
• The я-form mutates з→ж: кажу́сь (not *казю́сь); the rest of the present is built on каж- (ка́жешься, ка́жется, ка́жутся), stem-stressed except in кажу́сь.
• Мне ка́жется, что… is the frozen impersonal opener — dative person + что-clause — used to soften an opinion. Past: Мне каза́лось, что…
• Aspect: imperfective каза́лся = an ongoing impression; perfective показа́лось = the impression struck for a moment; perfective показа́ться also = "to come into view."
• Future: imperfective compound бу́ду каза́ться; perfective simple покажу́сь / пока́жется.
• Dative experiencer: the person to whom it seems is in the dative (мне ка́жется, ему́ показа́лось).