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JLPT N4Hearsay & Conjecture

らしい— Evidence-Based Hearsay / True Nature

An inference marker with two main functions. 1) Relaying information you heard or read that seems reliable ("apparently"). 2) The "-like / true nature" suffix, indicating something perfectly embodies its expected role or character.

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Pro lessonUNIT 51 · HEARSAY & CONJECTURE

Structure · 形

[Plain form / Noun] + らしい

Examples · 例文

  • あの二人は来月結婚するらしい。

    Ano futari wa raigetsu kekkon suru rashii.

    Apparently, those two are getting married next month.

    結婚する + らしい (reliable hearsay / inference from evidence)

  • 今日は春らしい天気ですね。

    Kyou wa haru rashii tenki desu ne.

    It's such spring-like weather today.

    春らしい = weather that perfectly embodies what spring should be

  • 男なら男らしく泣くな！

    Otoko nara otokorashiku naku na!

    If you're a man, act like one and don't cry!

    男らしく = behaving in the way a man is expected to (adverbial 〜らしく)

Usage notes · 注意

  • らしい vs みたい (metaphor): This is critical. 彼みたいな人 = someone LIKE him (a comparison). 男らしい人 = a manly man who ACTUALLY is a man and embodies it. らしい demands the subject actually BE the thing it echoes.
  • Reliable hearsay: らしい hearsay is usually based on reading an article or seeing solid proof, unlike a purely abstract guess.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones らしい is tested against.

vsみたい / ようだ

みたい・ようだ can express metaphor or resemblance ('like X, but not X'). らしい insists the thing truly IS X and behaves as X should.

vsそうだ (hearsay)

そうだ passes on info word-for-word with zero judgment. らしい adds that the speaker finds the info credible and may draw a light inference from it.

vsっぽい

っぽい is casual and often slightly negative ('-ish, tends to'). らしい (true-nature use) is neutral-to-positive: 'properly, as it should be.'

More hearsay & conjecture

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