に見える | Grammar

Structure

[noun] + に見える [na-adj] + に見える [i-adj 〜い → 〜く] + 見える

Description

に見える means "to look", "to look like": it says how someone or something appears to you, whatever the truth turns out to be. It goes straight after a noun or a な-adjective. An い-adjective drops the に and changes 〜い to 〜く instead.

。

He looks like a student.

。

She looks healthy.

。

My mother looks young.

× 若いに見える → 若く見える
× 元気なに見える → 元気に見える

The impression can be wrong, and a following けど often says so.

、。

It looks easy, but it's actually difficult.

、。

This dog looks like a puppy, but it's already five years old.

With a verb: ように見える

A verb cannot take に見える directly. It needs ように first.

。

He looks angry.

× 怒っているに見える → 怒っているように見える

に見える or そうだ

on an adjective stem guesses at something you can't see directly from how it looks: food that looks tasty, a person who looks kind. に見える reports the look itself, and is the one for nouns and for age or size.

。

This cake looks delicious.

。

She looks twenty.

×おいしいに見える is wrong, but おいしそうにみえる見える is fine, because おいしそう works like a な-adjective.

Examples

。

She looks like she's twenty years old.

。

That person looks Japanese.

。

This dish looks delicious.

、。

Even though he is tired, he looks energetic.

、。

When you look from far away, it looks like a star.

、。

When you wear those clothes, you look like an adult.

。

This painting looks like the real thing, doesn't it?

。

My father looks young for his age.

、。

It looks easy, but when you try it, it's hard.

、。

That mountain looks close, but it's actually far away.

。きごう？

You look happy today. Did something good happen?

、。

This dog looks like a puppy, but it's already five years old.

References

にみえるBunpro