らしいapparently; typical of
らしい is "apparently": you were told, and you aren't vouching for it. Straight after a noun it can also say that something is all that the noun should be: 春らしい日, a real spring day.
apparently
Apparently, this shop is closed on Mondays.
typical of spring
It has turned into a warm day, a real spring day.
not like you
You don't have your usual energy today. That's not like you.
Apparently
行くらしい ／ 行ったらしい ／ 高いらしい ／ 休みらしい ／ 静からしい
The plain form. A noun or a な-adjective goes straight on, with no だ. Past and negative go inside: 行かなかったらしい. Polite: らしいです.
Typical of
Noun + らしい ／ らしく ／ らしくない
It changes like an い-adjective.
Which one is it?
After a verb or an adjective it is "apparently". After a noun, what you already know decides.
Apparently he is a student.
You don't know what he does. It is what you heard.
Please come dressed as a student should be.
A school to its students. They are students already, so this is how a student should look.
Apparently: what you were told
News that reached you second-hand: something a friend said, something you read, talk going around.
Apparently Tanaka is getting married next month.
Apparently the department head is away on business from this afternoon.
From what everyone says, Sato apparently wasn't at that meeting.
Apparently the bakery by the station is closing down.
Yeah, apparently.
そうらしい is the short answer "apparently so".
How do you know?
Japanese picks the ending by how you know: from the look of it, from signs, or from what you were told.
The sky is dark. No rain yet.
The look of it: stem + そうだ.
It looks like it's going to rain.
The road is wet. You figure it out.
Signs: plain form + ようだ, or みたいだ in conversation.
It seems it rained.
The forecast said so. You pass it on.
Told: plain form + そうだ.
I hear it's going to rain.
You heard it somewhere. You aren't vouching for it.
Told, and kept at a distance: plain form + らしい.
Apparently it's going to rain.
Among friends the news mostly comes with らしい or んだって. そうです is at home in polite talk and in writing.
ようだ or らしい?
らしい can also be a guess from signs, as ようだ is, but it sounds as if you were only looking on.
Several umbrellas have been left outside. Apparently there are still people inside.
ようだ is your own reading of the signs. らしい leans on what others told you.
Yamada seems to have a cold.
You have seen him coughing. The judgment is yours.
Apparently Yamada has a cold.
You are going by what you were told.
So a doctor who has just examined you says 風邪のようですね. 風邪らしいですね would sound as if the doctor had only heard about it.
春らしい: all that spring should be
After a noun, らしい says that something has what you expect of that noun: a spring day that feels like spring, a friend being herself.
With all this snow, it has been a real Hokkaido winter this year.
Answering even the hard questions with a smile: that's just like Mika.
Don't worry too much about everyone else; just speak in your own way.
The children were playing covered in mud, just as children should.
春らしい or 春みたい?
Today is a warm day, a real spring day.
It is April. The day is all that a spring day should be.
Today is a warm day, like spring.
It is February. The day only resembles spring.
らしい is usually said of the real thing; のよう and みたい of what only resembles it. A child playing in the mud is 子どもらしい; an adult who sulks is 子どもみたい.
らしくない
らしくない is "not like". For "apparently not", the negative goes in front.
Tanaka is not acting like himself today.
Not like him.
Apparently Tanaka isn't coming today.
Apparently not.
Close neighbours
そうだN4
After a plain form, "I hear". On a stem it is a different ending, "looks": 降りそうだ.
According to the weather forecast, it will rain tomorrow.
ようだN4
Your own reading of the signs. Also "like", for what something only resembles.
The lights are off. It seems no one is there anymore.
みたいだN4
ようだ as people say it in conversation.
The key is not on the desk. Looks like my brother has already gone out.
っぽいN3
A casual "-ish": a touch of something, often said as a complaint. 子どもっぽい is "childish".
His way of thinking is childish.
Check yourself
1"Apparently the test isn't difficult."
Choose an answer to see why.
2"Apparently it will rain tomorrow."
Choose an answer to see why.
3Which one fits?
うちの
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
About yourself
"Apparently" works about yourself only for what you can't know first-hand.
Apparently I talk in my sleep.
どうやら
どうやら in front announces a guess.
It looks as if we have taken a wrong turn.
Not always praise
Late again? That's him all over.
More sentences
I asked a few people, and apparently the new shop is open on weekends too.
Judging from how the people who took it reacted, the exam was apparently quite difficult.
Judging from the reviews, that hotel is apparently quiet.
Giving up over such a small mistake isn't like you.
That careful decision was just like the department head.
They dealt with it calmly to the end, as a professional should.