らしい ①Seems like, Apparently, I heard

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.

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.

Caution

There are 2 main forms of らしい in Japanese. The auxiliary verb usage mentioned above, and the 形容詞(けいようし)の一部(いちぶ) (auxiliary adjective), a type of adjective that must be attached to another word for it to have any meaning usage. らしい has the meaning of something that is 'typical of (A)', when used as an auxiliary adjective.

This い-Adjective use of らしい will be covered more in our second らしい lesson.