～らしい

How it works

らしい has two jobs, and both grow from the same idea: this fits what one would expect.

1. Inference from what you heard: apparently, it seems

After a clause, らしい reports information you picked up indirectly (a rumor, something overheard, circumstantial signs) and presents the conclusion you draw from it, while keeping your distance: you have not confirmed it and you are not vouching for it. 田中さんは辞めるらしい = from what I gather, Tanaka is quitting. It is the everyday hedge for office and neighbourhood news.

Formation: plain form of verbs and い-adjectives + らしい (来るらしい, 来たらしい, 高いらしい); nouns and な-adjective stems attach directly with no だ (学生らしい, 静からしい).

2. Typicality: like a proper…, worthy of the name

Noun + らしい also means 'has the qualities expected of a…': 男らしい (manly), 春らしい天気 (proper spring weather), 学生らしい服装 (clothes that suit a student), 彼らしい答え (an answer typical of him). So 学生らしい is ambiguous out of context: 'apparently a student' or 'student-like'; the rest of the sentence usually settles it, and the typicality reading is the one used before a noun (学生らしい学生).

Conjugation

らしい behaves as an い-adjective: らしくない, らしかった, らしくて, adverbial らしく (学生らしく振る舞う). Polite: らしいです. 彼らしくないミスだ = a mistake unlike him. Note that らしくない negates only the typicality sense; to report that something apparently is not the case, negate the clause instead: 来ないらしい, not 来るらしくない.

Examples

• 田中さんは来月、会社を辞めるらしい。 — たなかさん は らいげつ、かいしゃ を やめる らしい。 — Apparently Tanaka is quitting the company next month.
• あの店は最近、値段が上がったらしいですよ。 — あの みせ は さいきん、ねだん が あがった らしい です よ。 — It seems that shop raised its prices recently.
• 駅前に新しい病院ができるらしい。 — えきまえ に あたらしい びょういん が できる らしい。 — I hear a new hospital is going up in front of the station.
• 今日は春らしい暖かい日ですね。 — きょう は はる らしい あたたかい ひ です ね。 — It is a warm day, just like spring should be.
• 彼は本当に学生らしくない。いつも高い服を着ている。 — かれ は ほんとう に がくせい らしく ない。いつも たかい ふく を きて いる。 — He really does not act like a student; he always wears expensive clothes.
• 会議は中止になったらしいけど、まだ連絡が来ていない。 — かいぎ は ちゅうし に なった らしい けど、まだ れんらく が きて いない。 — Apparently the meeting was cancelled, but I have not been notified yet.

Compare with

• Hearsay そうです relays without judging: 辞めるそうです (I was told). 辞めるらしい adds the speaker's own inference ('from what I gather'), is vaguer about the source and commits to it less.
• ようだ・みたいだ is your own judgment from evidence in front of you, and with nouns 学生みたい means 'looks like a student (but probably is not)', the opposite of 学生らしい ('a proper student').
• はずだ is a confident expectation from reasoning (来るはずだ = should be coming); らしい is a tentative report (来るらしい = apparently coming).

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• Spanish 'parece que va a llover' and French 'on dirait qu'il va pleuvoir' cover both hearing and seeing, so learners say 雨が降るらしい while looking at black clouds. らしい is for what you heard or gathered; what you see is 雨が降りそう.
• Spanish 'parece un hombre' about a distant figure comes out as 男らしい, which means 'manly', not 'seems to be a man'. For resemblance use 男のようだ／男みたいだ, and note that 子どもらしい praises a child while 子どもみたい criticises an adult.
• Carrying the だ of hearsay そうだ over, learners write 静かだらしい and 学生だらしい. Nouns and な-adjectives attach directly: 静からしい, 学生らしい.
• English speakers treat らしい as a frozen particle and hang the tense outside it: 辞めるらしいでした. It conjugates like an い-adjective (辞めるらしかった), or the tense goes inside: 辞めたらしいです.