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I have some difficulty how to translate 見た感じ in the following context

受付のお嬢さん、俺とアクアの前にそれぞれカードを差し出した。免許証ぐらいの大きさのそれは、見た感じ身分証みたいに見える。

The receptionist set a card in front of me and another one in front of Aqua. It was about the size of a driver's license - presumably some kind of identification.

Parf has already been answered in Is it common to shorten 感じがする to 感じ?

with 感じ meaning "like" but I do not what to do with 見た。 Does it mean that:

like that I saw ?

And if this is the case, does it refer to driver's license or the kind of identification ?

Makoto
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  • I think you can remember 聞いた感じ, 見た感じ and 触った感じ as set expressions meaning "guessing from what I have heard/seen/etc". – naruto Dec 26 '20 at 19:03

1 Answers1

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感じ can mean "feeling" in an abstract manner. Like in english, you can say things like "This hotel feels very luxurious". 見た here is simply modifying 感じ. So, if you combine the two, 「見た感じ」 would mean something like "how it looks". If you're unfamiliar with how verbs and verb clauses can be used adjectivally, Tae Kim explains it here.

Since the sentence is kind of confusing, I'm going to add one particle to it:

免許証ぐらいの大きさのそれは、見た感じ（が）身分証みたいに見える。
The card, which was almost the same size as a driver's license, looked like a personal ID.

A more literal translation of that second part of the sentence might be:

見た感じ（が）身分証みたいに見える。
The way/feeling it looked looked like a personal ID.

Shurim
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  • thanks a lot, I have just one more question: why the past here is used (見た, not 見る) ? – Makoto Dec 25 '20 at 18:51
  • the idea to put the が makes it all more clear ! – Makoto Dec 25 '20 at 18:57
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    These threads might help with that question: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3361/%e5%a4%aa%e3%81%a3%e3%81%a6%e3%82%8b%e7%8c%ab-vs-%e5%a4%aa%e3%81%a3%e3%81%9f%e7%8c%ab / https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11975/what-are-the-general-principles-of-using-verbs-to-modify-nouns-e-g-%e7%84%a6%e3%81%92%e3%82%8b%e3%83%88%e3%83%bc%e3%82%b9%e3%83%88-%e7%84%a6%e3%81%92%e3%81%9f?noredirect=1&lq=1 – Shurim Dec 25 '20 at 20:32
  • thanks for the link ! – Makoto Dec 25 '20 at 21:12