とみえるit would seem; evidently
You look at someone or something and say what must lie behind it: "it would seem", "evidently". It belongs to written narration and sounds old-fashioned in speech, where people say みたいだ or らしい.
The children were evidently worn out: they fell asleep straight away.
The road and the roofs are wet. It would seem that it rained in the night.
How to form it
Plain form + とみえる／とみえて
A noun or a な-adjective can keep だ or drop it: 留守（だ）とみえる. Also written と見える.
- What you go on
- What you can see or hear for yourself: how someone is behaving, the state of a room or a street.
- Often with
- よほど or 相当: you are struck by how much.
- Tone
- A calm onlooker, a step back from the scene.
- Where you'll meet it
- Novels and essays, mostly in the narrator's voice.
In use
Aoki has the papers open, but his pen hasn't moved for a while. His mind is evidently on something else.
There are two unfamiliar pairs of shoes in the hall. It seems there are visitors.
The child keeps rubbing his eyes. He is evidently very sleepy.
とみえて: the conclusion comes first
In the middle of a sentence it is とみえて. What you conclude goes before it, and what you actually saw comes after. English tends to put them the other way around.
No one answers however many times I call: the people next door are evidently out.
Close neighbours
ようだ・みたいだN4
The same conclusion from signs, as people say it: ようだ in polite talk and writing, みたいだ in conversation.
The road is still wet. It seems that it rained last night.
らしいN4
"Apparently", in everyday speech. It usually leans on what you were told; とみえる goes on what you noticed yourself.
Apparently Tanaka is getting married next month.
ところを見るとN2
What you saw comes first and the guess ends the sentence, usually with ようだ or らしい: the reverse of とみえて.
Judging from the long line outside, the shop seems to be pretty popular.
に見えるN4
How something looks, which may not be how it is. とみえる says you think it really is so.
From a distance, this model looks like a real house.
Check yourself
1What did the writer actually see?
山田さんは
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one fits?
祖母は
Choose an answer to see why.
More sentences
She has evidently taken a great liking to the place: she goes there almost every week.
The birds all took off at once. It would seem that someone came near.
Loud applause came from the hall. Apparently the lecture has just ended.
The recorded values stop changing partway through. It would seem the equipment is not working properly.