Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 10: 3/18

らしい ②typical of, -ish・like, appropriate for, becoming of, befitting

Structure

Noun + らしい。
Noun + らしく + Phrase
Noun + らしい + Noun

Details

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About らしい ②

In our first らしい lesson, we discussed the auxiliary verb use of らしい. In this lesson we will focus on the 形容詞(けいようし)の一部(いちぶ) (auxiliary adjective) usage. An auxiliary adjective is a type of adjective that must be attached to another word for it to have any meaning.

To use らしい in this way, it must be attached to the end of a noun, and will imply that something is 'typical of (A)', where (A) is the noun that comes before it. As this らしい behaves like an い-Adjective, it may also be conjugated to らしく, before a (B) phrase will explain more about 'what' is/was typical of (A).

The primary use of this らしい is to express that (A) has some feature or trait that is expected of itself. It can be used for people, 'studying all night is so typical of Tanaka', or it can be used for things like seasons 'this heat is so typical of the Japanese Summer'. Other common translations are 'to be befitting of (A)', or 'to be appropriate for (A)'.

However, it may also be used negatively, to show that something is (often surprisingly) 'uncharacteristic of (A)'.

Fun Fact

When the noun that appears in (A) and (B) are the same, it will imply that (A) is the 'prime example of (B)', or 'the most (A), (B)'.

  • 今年(ことし)の８月(はちがつ)は夏(なつ)らしい夏(なつ)だね。
    August this year is the prime example of summer. (Literally, 'the most summery summer')

Examples

--:--

    「もっと大人(おとな)らしくしなさいよ！」

    'Behave more like an adult!' (befitting of)

    「やっと夏(なつ)らしい日(ひ)が来(き)たよ！」

    'At last, a day befitting of summer has come!'

    「そんなことを言(い)うのは、彼女(かのじょ)らしい。」

    'Saying something like that, (it is) typical of her.'

    「カップルらしく映画(えいが)を見(み)に行(い)こう！」

    'Let's go to the movies like couples do!' (typical of)

    「あなたの笑顔(えがお)の愛(あい)らしさに気(き)づいたばかりだわ。」

    'I just noticed the loveliness of your smile.'

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らしい ② – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (11 in total)

  • nekoyama

    nekoyama

    I think it’s just a way to say “a bunch of words”. In linguistics, a phrase is a grammatical unit that can consist of multiple words. Not all phrases are valid here, but there isn’t really enough room to put a complete list. But it would be the same one as for い-adjectives in their く-form or for adverbs.

    Among the example sentences, there is this one:
    カップルらしく 映画えいがを見みに行いこう

    I picked it because it’s fairly long compared to the other examples. The entire part after らしく is the “phrase”.

  • Superpnut

    Superpnut

    Thanks, I wasn’t sure what it meant. I kinda thought it meant what you were saying but I wasn’t sure. I guess I just never thought something like “going to the movies” was considered a phrase I just thought it was a sentence. But I get what they mean by phrase now thanks

  • Shadoobie

    Shadoobie

    90% sure that’s a Futurama reference, which, while hilarious, is a bad example without the full quote:

    “Yeah, well, I’m gonna go build my own theme park- with blackjack, and hookers! Actually, forget the park.”

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