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Hi in this sentence 'らしく' is used, but I am not really sure about the meaning of らしく. I found this explanation for it, but it doesn't helps me to understand its meaning in the sentence:

  • way to use 「らしい」 is to indicate that a person seems to be a certain thing due to his behavior.

誰かの視線に気づいたらしく、ふっと頭を上げ、通りのむこうからこちらの様子をじっとうかがっている猫を見つけた。

istrasci
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toobee
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    You have a typo: うががって > うかがって – Earthliŋ Dec 11 '12 at 13:27
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    Another one: 誰が > 誰か – Earthliŋ Dec 11 '12 at 13:29
  • @toobee, could you provide the translation for this sentence if there was one? – yadokari Dec 11 '12 at 14:57
  • thx, it is from a Harry Potter book. The corresponding English sentence is this one _ "But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street" – toobee Dec 12 '12 at 00:23

1 Answers1

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らしい is one of the way of saying something seems to be a certain way. EDICT has

らしい aux-adj
(1) seeming ... (expresses judgment based on evidence, reason or trustworthy hearsay)/appearing .../(suf,adj-i)
(2) (after a noun, adverb or adjective stem) -ish/like a .../typical of .../appropriate for .../becoming of .../worthy of the name ...

and らしく is the corresponding adverb.

In this sentence, meaning (1) is intended, i.e.

誰かの視線に気づいたらしく、ふっと頭を上げ、通りのむこうからこちらの様子をじっとうかがっている猫を見つけた。
Seeming to have noticed someone looking at him, he abruptly lifted his head and at the other end of the street found a cat staring his way.

Earthliŋ
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  • to anyone who would like to answer-about what grade reading level would this sentence be considered in Japanese? 中学校,高校生,大学生。。。どんな読解レベルの？ – yadokari Dec 11 '12 at 15:16
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    @yadokari-san 小学生くらいです ^^　（中学入試の国語の問題見たことあるけどかなり難解な文が出てきます ^^　例:http://www.heian.ed.jp/admission/kakomon/12kakomon/a1-ko-m.pdf）ちなみに高校入試はこんな感じです:http://www.heian.ed.jp/admission/kakomon/12kakomon/h-ko-m.pdf –  Dec 11 '12 at 17:06
  • @ Chocolate, thank you for the examples. The English translation seems more like junior high school level to me (readable by a 10 or 11 year old), but Japanese students are probably more precocious than American. – yadokari Dec 11 '12 at 17:39
  • @yadokari-san, I wasn't notified again! www because of the space between the @ and my username. 日本の小学校は、12歳までなので・・・^^ –  Dec 11 '12 at 19:49
  • @Chocolate, oh that's right that makes more sense now.thanx~ – yadokari Dec 11 '12 at 19:53
  • hey, the sentence is from the Japanese version of the 1st Harry Potter book. It is a book for children deshou – toobee Dec 12 '12 at 00:21
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    I disagree with the translation "as though", which suggests that it wasn't actually the case that "he had noticed". A better translation would be "seemingly having noticed" or "appearing to have noticed" or something to that extent. – dainichi Dec 12 '12 at 00:26
  • @dainichi Without context, I imagined that he only imagined being looked at by someone, but all he found was a cat, which happened to be looking his way... With context, of course, the cat (Prof. McGonagall) was intentionally looking at him, and he did indeed notice someone's gaze. I changed my translation. – Earthliŋ Dec 12 '12 at 02:58
  • Ah, I now understand how my confusion arose. You were assuming that it was the "like a..." らしい, while I was assuming it was the "hearsay/appearance" らしい. I personally wouldn't use the "like a..." らしい after a finite verb, and your source seem to agree ("after a noun ..."). However, Daijirin http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?dtype=0&dname=0ss&p=%E3%82%89%E3%81%97%E3%81%84 does list an example where it comes after a verb, どうやら外国に来たらしい気分になれた, but somehow I don't find that interpretation natural here. – dainichi Dec 12 '12 at 06:49
  • I feel like the most important part of the question was left unanswered :) At least that's why I came here. Why does the clause end with an adverb? Is a verb implied (らしく[する])? Was the adjective turned into an adverb (or such form) to function similarly to how て- or conjunctive (連用形) forms are used to connect/link clauses? Is it a Japanese way to form an adverbial clause? According to the following answer it's the second one. – yk7 Mar 03 '24 at 15:39
  • @yk7 Yes, the phrase becomes adverbial, modifying the verb 上げる — you can compare it to 早く頭を上げ "he lifted his head quickly". But in the actual sentence the adverbial phrase is just much longer (and ふっと is another adverb modifying it). You could also translate it as something like "He abruptly (ふっと) lifted his head as if (らしく) he had noticed someone looking at him". – Earthliŋ Mar 04 '24 at 05:38
  • So you're saying that 誰か...らしく is an adverbial phrase modifying 上げ? Could there be another way to interpret it? That 誰か...らしく is a separate (non-adverbial) clause connected to the next one with "and" (he seems to have noticed ..., and abruptly lifted his head, and ...)? Similar to how 上げる in the conjunctive form (連用形) connects its clause to the next one (or the て form). According to the link I provided adjectives in the adverbial form can perform that function. | I wonder what it looks like for Japanese... – yk7 Mar 15 '24 at 03:29