As seen by the naked eye, the liver has four lobes: right lobe, left lobe, caudate lobe, and quadrate lobe. This lobe division is based on surface features.
When looking at the front of the liver, the left lobe of liver is divided from the right by the falciform ligament, which attaches the liver to the front wall of the body. The ligamentum venosum and ligamentum teres divide the left lobe of liver from the right as viewed from behind.
The science of functional anatomy divides the liver into left and right lobes based on their relation to the common bile duct, hepatic portal vein, and hepatic artery proper. Each of these structures has left and right branches. The areas served by the left branch of these structures constitutes the left lobe of liver from the viewpoint of functional anatomy. This is referred to as the functional left lobe of liver. The functional left lobe of liver is also divided from the right by an imaginary plane that connects the inferior vena cava and the gallbladder fossa.