El participante parece asustado.

Parecer is the infinitive, meaning to seem. In the sentence, it has to be conjugated to match the subject el participante.

• parecer = to seem
• parece = he/she/it seems

Since el participante is third-person singular, Spanish uses parece.

Parece asustado means the participant seems frightened, so the speaker is describing an impression or appearance.

Compare:

• El participante parece asustado. = The participant seems frightened.
• El participante está asustado. = The participant is frightened.

So parece is less direct and more observational. It suggests that’s how he appears, not necessarily a confirmed fact.

Asustado has to agree with the person being described.

Here, el participante is treated as masculine singular, so the adjective is also masculine singular:

• el participante asustado

If the participant were female, you would say:

• La participante parece asustada.

So the ending changes to match gender and number.

Not exactly. Participante is a noun that can refer to either a male or a female participant. The word itself often stays the same, and the article tells you the gender:

• el participante = the male participant
• la participante = the female participant

This is common with many Spanish nouns ending in -e.

It is functioning as an adjective in this sentence.

It comes from the verb asustar (to frighten / to scare), and its past participle is asustado/asustada. But in sentences like this, Spanish often uses past participles as adjectives:

• Está cansado = He is tired
• Parece preocupado = He seems worried
• Parece asustado = He seems frightened

So while its form is a past participle, its job here is adjectival.

Yes. Se ve asustado is also natural and often means looks frightened.

Compare:

• parece asustado = seems frightened
• se ve asustado = looks frightened

They are very close in meaning. Parecer is a bit broader and can mean seems, while verse often emphasizes visual appearance.

Because parecer works like to seem in English. It can be followed directly by an adjective.

• parece asustado = seems frightened
• parece cansado = seems tired
• parece feliz = seems happy

You do not need estar after parece here.

So Spanish structure is:

• subject + parece + adjective

Usually, yes, if you are talking about the participant as a specific person.

Spanish uses definite articles more often than English in many contexts. Here:

• El participante parece asustado. = The participant seems frightened.

If you leave out el and just say Participante parece asustado, it sounds incomplete or unnatural in normal standard Spanish.

Yes, but El participante parece asustado is the most neutral and standard order.

Other orders are possible in special contexts, for example for emphasis or in literary style, but they are less basic for learners.

The normal pattern is:

• subject + verb + adjective

So this sentence is a good standard model.

You would change both the article and the adjective:

• La participante parece asustada.

Changes:

• el → la
• asustado → asustada

The noun participante usually stays the same.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

el par-tee-see-PAN-te pa-RE-se a-soos-TA-do

A few useful notes:

• parece is pronounced roughly pa-RE-se in Latin America.
• The c before e sounds like s in most of Latin America.
• Main stress:
  • participante → -PAN-
  • parece → -RE-
  • asustado → -TA-

A more careful approximation:

• El participante parece asustado
• el par-ti-si-PAN-te pa-RE-se a-sus-TA-do

Yes, but it is a slightly different structure.

• El participante parece asustado. = The participant seems frightened.
• El participante parece tener miedo. = The participant seems to be afraid.

Both are natural, but asustado sounds more like frightened/startled, while tener miedo focuses more on being afraid.

They are very different:

• asustado = frightened, scared
• asustoso = scary, frightening

So:

• El participante parece asustado. = The participant seems frightened.
• El participante parece asustoso. would mean the participant seems scary, which is a completely different idea.

This is a very common kind of distinction in Spanish:

• one word describes the person feeling something
• another describes the thing causing that feeling