All about Sembler

Sembler is a very common and useful French verb. It is a regular -ER verb, can be personal or impersonal, and may be followed by the subjunctive.

Sembler means "to seem":

   Tu me sembles bien fatigué
   You seem/look very tired to me

   Il ne semble pas convaincu
   He doesn't seem convinced

Sembler can be followed by an adjective or the infinitive:

   Ton idée semble intéressante
   Your idea seems interesting

   La maison semble secouer
   The house seems to be shaking

   Cela semble indiquer que nous avions raison
   This seems to indicate that we were right


Il semble

Il semble is an impersonal construction that means "it seems." It can be followed by an adjective + de + infinitive or else que + subjunctive:

   Il semble important d'essayer
   It seems important to try

   Il ne semble pas qu'il soit prêt
   It doesn't seem like he's ready

However, when il semble is modified with an indirect object pronoun, it takes the indicative.

   Il me semble que tu as raison
   It seems to me that you're right

   Il nous semble que Paul peut le faire
   It seems to us that Paul can do it


Expressions with Sembler

   comme bon me/te semble - as I/you see fit

   Il me semble que oui (non) - I (don't) think so

   Prenez ce que bon vous semble - Take what you wish

   Que vous en semble ? - What do you make of it?


Conjugations

Present tense

je semble
tu sembles
il semble
nous semblons
vous semblez
ils semblent

All tenses