Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to seem" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

казаться

Meaning: to seem, to appear, to look

Pronunciation: [kah-ZAH-tsah]

Part of speech: verb (imperfective aspect)

Rank: #139 (see frequency list)

Example sentences:

Этот дом ка́жется ма́леньким.
This house seems small.
Мне ка́жется, что он не придёт.
It seems to me that he will not come.
Каза́лось бы, всё я́сно!
One would think, everything is clear! (negation)
Ка́жется, мы опозда́ли.
I think we are late.
literal It seems like we are late.
Ка́жется, ты был врачо́м!
I thought you were a doctor!
Он каза́лся ста́рше, когда́ носи́л очки́.
He looked older when he was wearing glasses.
Ка́жется, он зна́ет об э́том.
I think he knows about it.
Это то́лько так ка́жется.
It only seems so.
Тебе́ не ка́жется стра́нной вся э́та исто́рия?
Don't you find all this story strange?
Пётр ка́жется ста́рше свои́х лет.
Pyotr looks older than he is.
literal Pyotr looks older than his years.
Ка́жется, бу́дет дождь.
It looks like it will be raining.
Мне́ всё каза́лось, что ты из Москвы́.
I always thought that you were from Moscow. (informal)

Idioms and set expressions:

каза́лось бы, ... = one would think, ... (negation)
literal it would seem
Кажется, ... = It looks like; It seems like; I think
Тебе́ не ка́жется... ? = Don't you find...?; Don't you think...? (informal)
Вам не ка́жется... ? = Don't you find...?; Don't you think...? (formal or plural)
Не ка́жется ли Вам... ? = Don't you find...?; Don't you think...? (formal or plural)
казаться старше своих лет = to look older than one is
literal to seem older than one's years
Мне всё казалось, что... = I always thought that...; I was under the impression that...; I kept imagining that...;

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

I	кажу́сь
you (singular)	ка́жешься
he, she, it	ка́жется
we	ка́жемся
you (plural)	ка́жетесь
they	ка́жутся

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	каза́лся
she	каза́лась
it	каза́лось
we, you (plural), they	каза́лись

Future Simple Tense

The imperfective verb казаться is not used in the Future Simple Tense. Use the perfective verb показаться instead.

Future Compound Tense

I	буду каза́ться
you (singular)	будешь каза́ться
he, she, it	будет каза́ться
we	будем каза́ться
you (plural)	будете каза́ться
they	будут каза́ться

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	кажи́сь
you (plural)	кажи́тесь

View full conjugation table for the verb pair казаться/показаться

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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