modality N4 common casualpolitewritten
らしい — seems / typical of
らしい
Meaning
① inference / hearsay: apparently / it seems ~ — a guess based mainly on what the speaker has heard or read, kept at arm's length
② typical of / befitting: typical of ~ / just like a ~ / as a ~ should be — has the qualities you'd expect of that thing
Key sentence
① inference / hearsay
田中さんは会社を辞めるらしい。
Apparently Tanaka is quitting the company.
② typical of / befitting
今日は春らしい暖かい日だ。
Today is a warm, properly spring-like day.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| verb / i-adjective (inference) | V/A(plain) + らしい | 辞めるらしい / 高いらしい |
| na-adjective / noun (inference) | na-adj / N (drop だ) + らしい | 静からしい / 学生らしい |
| noun (typical of) | N + らしい → behaves as an i-adjective (らしく, らしくない) | 春らしい / 自分らしく |
Examples
① inference / hearsay
天気予報によると、台風が来るらしい。
According to the forecast, a typhoon is apparently coming.
あの二人、付き合っているらしいよ。
Those two are apparently going out, you know.
② typical of / befitting
彼女はいつも自分らしい服を着ている。
She always wears clothes that are true to herself.
もっと学生らしくしなさい。
Act more like a student should.
When you can't use it
- N + らしい is ambiguous out of context: 学生らしい can mean 'apparently a student' (inference) or 'student-like / proper for a student' (befitting). The surrounding sentence decides which.
Easily confused with
ようだ らしい (inference) leans on outside information and keeps the speaker uninvolved ('apparently'); ようだ is the speaker's own direct impression from evidence ('it looks to me like'). そうだ (hearsay) 伝聞の そうだ relays a report verbatim ('I hear ~'); らしい digests it into a hazier conclusion ('apparently ~') and commits less. 〜っぽい 子供らしい = childlike in the proper, fitting way (a compliment); 子供っぽい = childish, immature (usually a flaw). らしい = befitting; っぽい = an excessive tendency.
See らしい in real sentences
Jengo shows らしい 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, A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.