らしい ①

The auxiliary verb らしい is very similar to the auxiliary verbs そうだ and ようだ, in that it expresses something that the speaker 'thinks' is true. This use is known as 推定(すいてい) (presumption) in Japanese. However, despite being a presumption/assumption, らしい usually sounds relatively confident.
らしい is regularly translated as 'it seems like (A)', or 'I heard that (A)'.
To use らしい, attach it to end of any (non-polite) verb, adjective, or noun.

• ねえ、聞(き)いた？タケシ君(くん)がキヨミちゃんにプロポーズするらしいよ。
  Hey, did you hear? It seems that Takeshi-kun is proposing to Kiyomi-chan.
• カシキさんの彼氏(かれし)はカッコいいらしいよ。
  I heard that Kashiki-san's boyfriend is handsome.
• タカギ先輩(せんぱい)がさっき言(い)っていた事(こと)は本当(ほんとう)らしいですよ。
  Apparently the thing that Takagi senpai was talking about earlier is true.
• あの人(ひと)はフランス人(じん)らしいよ。
  I heard that person is French.

In these examples, らしい indicates that the speaker has some reason to believe that (A) is true. This could be that they heard, saw, or read something, but are still not 100% sure whether their understanding is correct or not. In this way, it sounds very similar to 'it appears as though (A)' in English.

• 今朝(けさ)、新聞(しんぶん)で読(よ)んだんだけど、明日(あした)から雪(ゆき)が降(ふ)るらしいよ。
  I read this in the newspaper this morning, but it appears as though it is going to start snowing tomorrow.