Structure
Verb + とみえる
［い］Adjective + とみえる
［な］Adjective + （だ） + とみえる
Noun + （だ） + とみえる
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Standard
使用域
一般
About とみえる
とみえる (primarily written only in hiragana) is a phrase that combines the case marking particle と, with the る-Verb見える 'to appear', or 'to be visible'.
This use of the と particle in Japanese is called a result, and marks when (A) is something that has come to a conclusion, or can be concluded. In this way とみえる literally means 'from the way it appears, one can conclude that it's (A)'. However, this translates a bit more smoothly as 'it can be deduced that (A)', or 'it seems that (A)'.
This expression is always used directly after the phrase that it is drawing as a conclusion. However, nouns and な-Adjectives will require だ before とみえる.
This use of the と particle in Japanese is called a result, and marks when (A) is something that has come to a conclusion, or can be concluded. In this way とみえる literally means 'from the way it appears, one can conclude that it's (A)'. However, this translates a bit more smoothly as 'it can be deduced that (A)', or 'it seems that (A)'.
This expression is always used directly after the phrase that it is drawing as a conclusion. However, nouns and な-Adjectives will require だ before とみえる.
- 家の窓が外から割られていた。泥棒に入られたとみえる。The windows of the house have been broken from the outside, so I can deduce that a burglar came in.
- 彼は上着を脱いだ。彼は暑いとみえる。He took off his jacket, so it seems that he is hot.
- 彼はサンドイッチを残した。彼はサンドイッチが嫌いだとみえる。He left the sandwich, so I can conclude that he doesn't like sandwiches.
- トムは今日は会社に来なかった。トムは昨日風邪を引いたから今日は休みだとみえる。Tom didn't come to work today. He caught a cold yesterday, so I can conclude that he is resting today.
Fun Fact
と always 'sums up' things. As a quotation, it sums up the phrase before it as either something that was said, or thought. As 一緒 'being together', it sums up groups of things that are existing/performing actions mutually. Lastly, as a result, it sums up causes, and then illustrates their effects.- 先生が生徒に「廊下で走るな」と言った。The teacher said 'don't run in the hallway' to the students.
- 母とレストランに行った。I went to the restaurant with my mother.
- 昼寝をすると夜に寝れなくなる。I can't fall asleep at night if I take a nap during the day.
Synonyms
Examples
あの親は優しいと見える。
Those parents seem nice.
家に行ったけど留守と見えた。
I went to their house, but it seemed that they weren't home.
彼はマラソンを走ったと見えてハアハア言っている。
It seems that he ran a marathon, he is breathing heavily.
テストに落ちたから、勉強してなかったと見える。
Since he failed the test, one can conclude that he did not study.
水と見えたが、ラムネでした。
It seemed that it was water, but it was lemon soda. (One can conclude that)
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とみえる
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Why is とみえる used here?
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とみえる – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (16 in total)
bsmith99
Do the parentheses mean that “da” is optional when used with nouns?
MKSea
I’m a bit confused about the translation of the following example sentence for this grammar point.
彼が今プールから出て来たと見えて、全部が濡れている。
“He is completely soaked. It can be deduced that he just got out of a pool.”
I don’t really understand why the order of the clauses is flipped in the translation like this. Based on the other examples, I assumed this would be roughly translated as
“It seems like he just got out of the pool, so/and he is completely soaked” or maybe
“It seems like he just got out of the pool, which explains why he is completely soaked”Are these also accurate translations, or is there something about flipping the order of the clauses that is closer to the Japanese meaning? Just want to make sure I’m not missing any subtleties here.
nekoyama
I don’t think the order absolutely needs to be flipped because we can do both orders in English.
A key point is that the second phrase is something the speaker has actually observed, and based on that, the speaker deduces what the first phrase says. The bunpro translation makes this very explicit but it’s not necessarily the most natural English.
Your translations on the other hand kind of miss this point. In particular the one with “so” even turns it around. I think something like “It seems like he just got out of the pool, because he’s completely soaked” would work better.
Not sure if helpful, but another approach is treat the first phrase as modifying the predicate (like an adverbial phrase). I.e. the first phrase describes the way in which the second phrase happens. The て form can have many meanings, but in some expressions it’s always used like this. For example if you see a を使って it will usually not mean “use X and do Y”. It’l...
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