---
title: "看起来 (kànqilai) in Chinese Grammar: Looks (like), With Examples"
description: "看起来 (kànqilai): looks (like); it seems. 看起来 + description: the impression from seeing it. 4 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/kanqilai"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# 看起来 kànqilai

Looks (like); it seems

看起来 + description: the impression from seeing it.

## In stories

他**看起来**是个孩子，可是非常厉害。

[齐天大圣 · Great Sage Equal to Heaven](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/great-sage-equal-to-heaven-journey-to-the-west-easy-chinese-6#library-word-582-585) HSK 3

经理也笑着说：“不错，**看起来**年轻了十岁。”

[再短一点儿 · How to get a haircut in Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/how-to-get-a-haircut-in-chinese#library-word-322-325) HSK 3

江豚的嘴角往上，**看起来**总像在笑，所以有人叫它“微笑天使”。

[长江十年不打鱼 · Why did China ban fishing on the Yangtze?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/why-did-china-ban-fishing-on-the-yangtze#library-word-144-147) HSK 4

它**看起来**并不大，也不特别漂亮，可是它已经在河上站了一千四百多年。

[赵州桥 · Zhaozhou Bridge, the world's oldest open-spandrel arch](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/zhaozhou-bridge-oldest-open-spandrel-arch#library-word-26-29) HSK 5

[Read 齐天大圣](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/great-sage-equal-to-heaven-journey-to-the-west-easy-chinese-6#library-word-582-585)

## More patterns

- [去/来 + place + verb (go somewhere to do something) go somewhere to do something](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/qu-place-v)
- [从…开始/起 starting from …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/cong-kaishi)
- [越来越 + adjective more and more …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/yuelaiyue)
- [verb + 来 + verb + 去 do something over and over; back and forth](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-lai-v-qu)
- [听起来 sounds (like); it sounds …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/tingqilai)
- [对…来说 for …; as far as … is concerned](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/dui-lai-shuo)

## What does 看起来 (kànqilai) mean in Chinese?

Looks (like); it seems. 看起来 + description: the impression from seeing it.

## How common is 看起来?

It comes up in 7 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.