～らしい (conjecture)

• Reading: らしい
• Romaji: rashii
• Formation: Verb plain form + らしい / い-Adj + らしい / な-Adj stem + らしい / Noun + らしい

Meaning

An auxiliary adjective indicating the speaker's conjecture based on evidence or information they have gathered. It expresses that something appears to be the case and translates as 'it seems' or 'apparently.'

らしい follows the plain form of verbs, adjectives, and nouns to express the speaker's inference drawn from objective evidence such as what they have heard, read, or observed indirectly. It differs from ようだ, which is more subjective and based on direct sensory impressions. らしい conjugates as an い-adjective: らしくない (negative), らしかった (past). There is also a separate suffix らしい meaning 'typical of' or 'befitting' (男らしい, 春らしい), which should not be confused with this conjecture usage. In formal writing, らしい often marks well-grounded inference rather than wild guessing.

Examples

1. 彼は会社を辞めるらしい。 It seems he's going to quit the company.
2. 明日の試験は難しいらしい。 Apparently tomorrow's exam is difficult.
3. 駅前に新しいカフェができたらしい。 It seems a new cafe opened in front of the station.

Usage Guide

Context: spoken, written, everyday

Tone: informative

Do Say

• 電車が遅れているらしいよ。
• 来年から消費税が上がるらしい。
• その話は本当らしいです。
• 彼女は最近忙しいらしくてなかなか会えない。

Don't Say

• 空が暗いから雨が降るらしい。(Direct observation of the sky suits ようだ better — らしい is for indirect evidence or information) → 空が暗いから雨が降るようだ。
• 彼は元気ならしい。(な-adjectives drop な before らしい: 元気らしい) → 彼は元気らしい。

Origin & History

らしい as an auxiliary expressing conjecture has been in use since the Heian period, derived from the adjective-forming suffix らし, which originally expressed seeming or likelihood.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal