〜らしい (rashii)

JLPT N3

How to report something you heard or gathered — “apparently.”

Meaning

“It seems ~ / apparently ~ / I heard ~.” Passes on information from an outside source.

Formation

• Verb / い-adj (plain) + らしい

• な-adj / Noun (drop だ) + らしい

Examples

駅前に新しいカフェができたらしい。

Ekimae ni atarashii kafe ga dekita rashii. — Apparently a new café opened by the station.

明日は雪が降るらしいよ。

Ashita wa yuki ga furu rashii yo. — I heard it's going to snow tomorrow.

彼は学生時代、有名だったらしい。

Kare wa gakusei-jidai, yūmei datta rashii. — Apparently he was famous back in school.

あの店はもう閉まったらしい。

Ano mise wa mō shimatta rashii. — I heard that shop has already closed.

How it works

らしい reports second-hand information you have some basis for. Note there's a separate らしい meaning “typical of” (男らしい = “manly”); context tells them apart.

Compared with similar expressions

• 〜らしい — hearsay / inference from info. “Apparently.”

• 〜そうだ (hearsay) — “I heard that ~” (direct report).

• 〜ようだ / みたい — “it seems ~” (your own impression).

Common mistakes

• な-adj / Noun drop だ: 有名 → 有名らしい, 学生 → 学生らしい

• Don't mix with 〜らしい “typical of” — a different meaning.

Related grammar

• 〜ようだ / みたい — seems like

• 〜そうだ — I heard / looks like

• 〜はず — should