Assessing situations with "kanlai"

看来 can be translated as "apparently" or "it seems" and is used by the speaker to introduce his understanding of a situation.

看来 as "it seems"

When speaking objectively about a situation, you can say 看来 and then state your perspective.

Structure

看来 + Perspective

Examples

• 看来他不来了，都这么晚了。Kàn lái tā bù láile, dōu zhème wǎnle.It seems he's not coming. It's already so late.
• 看来你玩得不高兴，怎么这么早就回来了？Kàn lái nǐ wán dé bù gāoxìng, zěnme zhème zǎo jiù huíláile?I guess you didn't have a good time. Is that why you came back so early?
• 现在看来，事情没那么糟。Xiànzài kàn lái, shìqíng méi nàme zāo.Now it looks like things aren't that bad.

看来 as "from x's perspective"

看来 can also be used to highlight a specific person(s) or type of person(s) point of view. This is like saying "the way he/she sees it..." You can also say 在我看来, which is the longer version, though it is used more often that way in formal speaking and writing, as it has more of a feeling like "in my opinion..."

Structure

在 + Person + 看来 + Perspective

Examples

• 在我看来，不 会 花 钱 的 人 就 不 会 享受 生活。Zài wǒ kàn lái, bù huì huā qián de rén jiù bù huì xiǎngshòu shēnghuó.The way I see it, people who won't spend money aren't going to enjoy life.
• 在他看来，公司 大小 不重要，重要的是老板好不好。Zài tā kàn lái, gōngsī dàxiǎo bù chóng yào, zhòngyào de shì lǎobǎn hǎobù hǎo.According to him, the size of the company isn't important. What's important is whether or not the boss is good.

See also

• "For…" with "eryan"
• Limiting scope with "jiu"
• Appearance with "kanqilai"
• "It seems" with "haoxiang"

Sources and further reading

Books

• HSK Standard Course 4上 (pp. 121) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 2 (pp. 60) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 (pp. 211) 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 →buy

Dictionaries

• 现代汉语词典（第5版） (pp.763) →buy

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