other N4 common casualpolitewritten
見える — be visible
見える
Meaning
① be visible: be visible / can be seen — something enters your field of vision on its own
② look / appear: look ~ / appear ~ — give a visual impression
Key sentence
① be visible
窓から海が見える。
You can see the sea from the window.
② look / appear
彼女は実際より若く見える。
She looks younger than she actually is.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun + が (sense 1) | N + が + 見える | 山が見える |
| Adjective / Noun + に (sense 2) | Adj / N + に + 見える | 高く見える; 学生に見える |
Examples
① be visible
今夜は星がよく見える。
The stars are really visible tonight.
霧で前が見えない。
I can't see ahead because of the fog.
② look / appear
この料理はおいしそうに見える。
This dish looks delicious.
彼は元気に見えるが、実は疲れている。
He looks fine, but he's actually exhausted.
Easily confused with
見られる (potential) 見える = something is naturally in sight, no effort or opportunity needed (富士山が見える — Fuji is visible). 見られる = you get the chance/ability to look at something (映画が見られる — I can watch the movie). 〜そうだ (looks like) 〜に見える bases the impression on what you actually see (元気に見える — looks healthy). 〜そう is a guess from appearance about something not yet confirmed (元気そう — seems healthy). 見える is more strongly grounded in the visual.
See 見える in real sentences
Jengo shows 見える the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.