נראה כאילו המשחק נגמר.

game

Breakdown of נראה כאילו המשחק נגמר.

• להיגמר: to end
• להיראות: to seem
• כאילו: as if

Questions & Answers about נראה כאילו המשחק נגמר.

What does נראה mean here?

נראה literally comes from the root ראה (to see), but in this sentence it means seems, appears, or looks.

So נראה כאילו... is a very common way to say:

• it seems as if...
• it looks like...
• it appears that...

Even though the basic idea is connected to seeing, in normal translation you usually do not say is seen here.

Why is נראה masculine singular if there is no clear subject? Where is the word it?

Hebrew often does not use a dummy subject like English it in expressions such as it seems or it is possible.

So:

• נראה כאילו המשחק נגמר = It seems as if the game is over
• literally, it is more like Seems as if the game ended

The masculine singular form נראה is the default form often used in this kind of impersonal expression.

So English needs it, but Hebrew does not.

What does כאילו mean exactly?