If you can remember that one of the basic meanings of parecer is "to appear," you will have little trouble learning how to use the verbs that have been derived from it through the use of prefixes.

As explained in the lesson on parecer, parecer usually is used in a broad sense to indicate how something appears or seems. It has a variety possible translations, but the ones used in these examples are the most common:

• Me parece que el resultado está bien. The result seems good to me.
• Me parece que ya no estamos en Kansas. It doesn't look like we're still in Kansas.
• Hasta el sol me parece frío cuando estás lejos. Even the sun feels cold when you're far away.

Aparecer usually also means "to appear," but in an active sense, such as something or someone showing up or coming into view:

• Las primeras formas de vida aparecieron probablemente hace 3.800 millones de años. The first forms of life probably appeared 3.8 billion years ago.
• Mi hermano apareció con un brazo fracturado. My brother showed up with a broken arm.
• De Niro y Stallone aparecerán juntos en la comedia. De Niro and Stallone will appear together in the comedy.

Related words include aparición, an appearance or apparition; apariencia, also an appearance; and aparencial, apparent.

Comparecer also means "to appear," but in a legal sense. It is frequently followed by the prepositionante:

• El sospecho de matanza compareció hoy por primera vez ante un juez. The murder suspect today appeared before a judge for the first time.

• El presidente comparecerá el lunes ante la comisión. The president will make an appearance Monday before the commission.

Desaparecer means "to disappear":

• Buscan a una niña de 13 años que desapareció. They're looking for a 13-year-old girl who disappeared.
• Cuando aprietas el pedal de embrague el ruido desaparece. When you push down on the clutch pedal the noise goes away.

In some areas, desaparecer can also be used as a transitive verb meaning "to make someone disappear," often as a criminal act:

• Lo fui a buscar por todas las cárceles, pero no lo encontré. Luego supe que lo desaparecieron. I went to look for him in all the jails, but I didn't find him. Later I came to know that they got rid of him.

A related noun is desaparación, disappearance.

Reaparecer means "to reappear" or "to show up again":

• Si no reaparezco, estoy con mis amigos en el Caribe. If I don't show up again, I'm with my friends in the Caribbean.
• No sabemos cuándo va a reaparecer en público. We don't know when he's going to appear again in public.

Conjugation: All these verbs use the same conjugation pattern as conocer. Most conjugated forms are regular, but the first-person singular form of parecer (I seem) is parezco, and similarly irregular forms are found in the present subjunctive and imperative forms.

Sources: Sample sentences have been adapted from sources that include La Vanguardia (Barcelona), Escapexz, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facebook conversations, El Mundo (Colombia), La Voz (Argentina), Yahoo.mx, Luis Montesinos Anzures, Diario Popular (Argentina), Aplausos (Spain) and RojaDirecta.