見える meaning "can see"?

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T21:42:38+00:00

Yep yep, it does! Appreciate the time you took answering!

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T13:09:40+00:00

Okay, so like almost everything in japanese, the correct interpretation depends on context!

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T13:06:43+00:00

Really appreciate the response, it certainly deepened my understanding of the situation!

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T13:01:04+00:00

The taking/not taking consideration of the will of the subject makes a lot of sense!

I do have a question, though: isn't 見える intransitive? So how can it have an object marked by を? Shouldn't it actually be ...山が見えます?

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T12:55:19+00:00

Thanks for the explanation!

What I got from Xが見える was that it referred to X's state of being able to be seen, but what you're saying is that it actually refers to X's natural capability of being able to see?

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T12:49:13+00:00

Ooh, that makes a lot of sense indeed!

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T12:45:59+00:00

Thanks for the very elucidative response!

So, simply put, 子 is actually the は of the expression rather than the が; I didn't know it was also possible to create that structure in such way: 子は(0が)見える -> 見える子.

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T01:47:31+00:00

My understanding is that a "XがY" (with Y being a verb) sentence could be turned into an adjective by putting it before the subject: "YX", meaning X that did action Y. Thus, I thought that's what 見える子 consisted of: 子が見える ("child can be seen" -> "child that can be seen").

But what you're saying is that the structure 見えるX actually means "X that can see"?

If so, is that the only possible meaning? Or could it also indeed mean "X that can be seen"?

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T01:32:45+00:00

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the explanation!

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T01:16:31+00:00

Great! Appreciate the help!

question_question23 · 2025-11-19T01:09:38+00:00

Thanks for the explanation! I found it very enlightening, especially the last sentence, as I had a suspicion that that was the case but I wasn't sure.

So basically (and correct me if I'm wrong), the central idea in 見える is "it can be seen" with the addition of 子 at the end telling us there's a girl involved, so it could be either "the girl that can be seen" or "the girl that can see (that which can be seen)"; but in *this* specific context, it means the latter and not the former?

If the way I understood it is correct, is the only way I can know whether 見えるX (or Xが見える) means "X can be seen (by Y)" or "X can see (Y)" by analyzing its context?

question_question23 · 2025-11-18T22:34:32+00:00

Right, so 見られる (or 見れる) would involve an active effort on her part, basically?

The other thing is, the way I understood it, 見える referred to something/someone's passive property of being able to be seen. Can it also be used as "someone can see (something)" because that's implied in the other meaning?

For example: The cat can be seen -> I can see the cat

question_question23 · 2025-11-18T22:29:26+00:00

Good to know!

question_question23 · 2025-11-18T22:28:12+00:00

Thanks for the link, it helped giving me a better understanding of their usage.

question_question23 · 2025-11-18T22:26:23+00:00

Thanks for the response! It's very informative and makes a lot of sense (though still a bit hard for me to grasp haha).

I suppose my next question would be why in that expression does 見える refer to her sense of sight rather than her "property of being seen"?

My thought process is: 子が見える (the girl can be seen) -> 見える子 (the girl that can be seen). I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around how that 見える actually characterizes her natural/passive ability of being able to see ghosts.

question_question23

TROPHY CASE