<p>V+起来 indicates that V is used as 感官动词(sense verb), like look/smell/sound/taste/feel in English</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>He looks like Guan Gong</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If you think about it, "He" is not the subject of the action "look", he doesn't look at anything</p>

<p>A clearer example is:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>This flower <strong>looks</strong> beautiful and <strong>smells</strong> sweet</p>
</blockquote>

<p>A flower doesn't have eyes and nose, look and smell are sense verbs here, so the translation is:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>这朵花<strong>看起来</strong>很漂亮, <strong>闻起来</strong>很香</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Also, V+上去 is same as V+起来</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-25T02:21:36.833Z
2019-04-25T02:21:36.833Z
Jason Swift
<p>Your problem is not the grammar, but the vocabulary.</p>

<p>看 means "look", but only in the sense of "to look at", not "to look like".
像 means "to look like" / "to resemble".</p>

<p>So "He looks like Guan Gong" can be translated as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>他像关公。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So why 看起来 ? Maybe the teacher wanted to keep the 看 because that's what you used. 看起来 here is an adverb that means "seemingly" / "seems to". </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>他看起来像关公 He seemingly looks like Guan Gong.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The 一样 is not necessary here, but gives the sentence a nicer rhythm. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-25T14:15:15.157Z
2019-04-25T14:15:15.157Z
KWeiss
<p>In my Chinese class we’ve recently had a chapter quiz. I missed the following question:</p>

<p>Translate “He looks like Guan Gong” into Chinese.</p>

<p>My response: 他看关公一样。</p>

<p>Teacher’s correction: 他看<strong>起来像</strong>关公一样。</p>

<p>So my question is why is my response grammatically incorrect?</p>

<p>Both answers translate the same in Google Translate, but why is the “看起来” needed?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-25T02:25:32.717Z
Don't trust google translate.
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-25T04:43:18.153Z
user expects google translate to correct wrong Chinese submitted for translation? It seems google is programmed to make a guess as to the intended meaning, and return correct English.
user6065
<translation><grammar><usage>
He “looks like”
# He “looks like”

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-04-24)

In my Chinese class we’ve recently had a chapter quiz. I missed the following question:

Translate “He looks like Guan Gong” into Chinese.

My response: 他看关公一样。

Teacher’s correction: 他看**起来像**关公一样。

So my question is why is my response grammatically incorrect?

Both answers translate the same in Google Translate, but why is the “看起来” needed?

**Tags:** translation, grammar, usage

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Don't trust google translate.  
> **username_2**: user expects google translate to correct wrong Chinese submitted for translation? It seems google is programmed to make a guess as to the intended meaning, and return correct English.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-04-25. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

V+起来 indicates that V is used as 感官动词(sense verb), like look/smell/sound/taste/feel in English

> He looks like Guan Gong

If you think about it, "He" is not the subject of the action "look", he doesn't look at anything

A clearer example is:

> This flower **looks** beautiful and **smells** sweet

A flower doesn't have eyes and nose, look and smell are sense verbs here, so the translation is:

> 这朵花**看起来**很漂亮, **闻起来**很香

Also, V+上去 is same as V+起来


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### Answer by username_4 on 2019-04-25. Score: 1

Your problem is not the grammar, but the vocabulary.

看 means "look", but only in the sense of "to look at", not "to look like".
像 means "to look like" / "to resemble".

So "He looks like Guan Gong" can be translated as:

> 他像关公。

So why 看起来 ? Maybe the teacher wanted to keep the 看 because that's what you used. 看起来 here is an adverb that means "seemingly" / "seems to".

> 他看起来像关公 He seemingly looks like Guan Gong.

The 一样 is not necessary here, but gives the sentence a nicer rhythm.


---

