ようだ / みたいだ Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Auxiliary な-Adjective
Essential Meaning: X appears / X seems / X looks as if / X is like
Construction:
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + ようだ
- E.g. 話すようだ [X seems to speak]
- E.g. 食べるようだ [X seems to eat]
- E.g. 高いようだ [X seems to be expensive]
- な-Adjective Stem + [な / だった] + ようだ
- E.g. 静かなようだ [X seems to be quiet]
- Noun + [の / だった] + ようだ
- E.g. 先生のようだ [X seems to be a teacher]
Notes:
- ようだ translates to “X seems“, “X appears“, “X looks as if“, or “X is like“. It expresses the likelihood or likeness of something / someone or makes an inference about something / someone. The speaker’s assessment conveys a high level of confidence and is based on firsthand, reliable, information. (typically visual information)
- E.g. 木村さんは昨日お酒を飲んだようだ。[It seems that Mr. Kimura drank sake yesterday.] In this example, the speaker is making the inference that Mr. Kimura drank sake yesterday based on reasoning from perceptual evidence.
- E.g. この問題は学生にはちょっと難しいようだ。[This problem seems to be a little too difficult for the students.] In this example, the speaker is making the inference that the test is too difficult for the students based on reasoning from perceptual evidence.
- E.g. この酒は水のようだ。[This sake is like water.] In this example, the speaker is expressing the likeness of the sake to water based on reasoning from perceptual information.
- E.g. この本は高いようだ。[This book seems to be expensive.] In this example, the speaker is expressing a high likelihood that the book is expensive based on an analysis of perceptual evidence.
- ようだ can be used counterfactually to express the idea of “It appears as if X is the case, when in fact X is not the case” or “X is like Y, even though X is not actually Y“.
- E.g. この酒は水のようだ。[This beer is like water.]
- E.g. 木村さんはまるで酒を飲んだようだ。[It totally seems as if Kimura-san drank alcohol (even though he didn’t).]
- E.g. あの人はまるで日本人のようです。[That person totally appears to be Japanese (even though he isn’t).]
- ようだ is a な-Adjective, so it’s pre-nominal form is ような and its adverbial form is ように.
- E.g. 今日田中さんのような人を見ました。[Today I saw a person who looked like Tanaka-san.]
- E.g. スミスさんは日本人のように日本語を話します。[Mr. Smith speaks Japanese like a Japanese person.]
- The colloquial version of ようだ is みたいだ. The usages of みたいだ and ようだ are exactly the same. みたいだ is constructed as follows:
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + みたいだ
- E.g. 話すみたいだ [X seems to speak]
- E.g. 食べるみたいだ [X seems to eat]
- E.g. 高いみたいだ [X seems to be expensive]
- (な-Adjective Stem / Noun) + [X / だった] + みたいだ
- E.g. 静かみたいだ [X seems to be quiet]
- E.g. 先生みたいだ [X seems to be a teacher]
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + みたいだ
- だろう, らしい, and そうだ (Conjecture) each express conjecture similarly to ようだ. The differences are as follows:
- (1) だろう expresses conjecture that is not necessarily based on any evidence or information. It may be a guess or a shot in the dark.
- E.g. この本は高いだろう。[I think this book is expensive (and my claim is not backed by reasoning or evidence).]
- (2) らしい expresses conjecture based on what the speaker has heard or read (i.e. the conjecture is based on second-hand information)
- E.g. この本は高いらしい。[It seems (based on what I’ve heard) that this book is expensive.]
- (3) そうだ (Conjecture) expresses conjecture about a current state or about what is going to happen based on what the speaker sees or feels. It expresses a fairly low level of certainty and can only be used with Verb ます-Forms or with adjective stems.
- E.g. この本は高そうだ。[This book looks expensive (based on my feelings, rather than on evidence or logic).]
- (4) ようだ expresses conjecture based on what the speaker has seen or experienced. It involves reasoning based on reliable information, and thus conveys more certainty than そうだ (Conjecture). ようだ is the most certain of these four expressions.
- E.g. この本は高いようだ。[This book seems to be expensive (based on my reasoning based on perceptual evidence).]
- To summarize:
- だろう = pure conjecture
- らしい = conjecture based on second-hand info (something heard or read)
- そうだ (Conjecture) = conjecture based on what the speaker sees or feels
- ようだ = conjecture based on reasoning or judgement of visual information
- (1) だろう expresses conjecture that is not necessarily based on any evidence or information. It may be a guess or a shot in the dark.
Example Sentences:
杉山さんはアメリカへ行くようだ。[It appears that Sugiyama-san will go to America.]
上田さんはボクシングが好きなようだ。[It appears that Ueda-san likes boxing.]
あの人は田中先生のようだ。[That person looks like Tanaka-sensei.]
A: 石井さんはもう帰りましたか。B: はい、そのようです。[A: Has Ishii-san gone home already? B: Yes, it appears that he has.]
木村さんはまるで酒を飲んだようだ。[It totally seems as if Kimura-san drank alcohol (even though he didn’t).]
ここは昔学校だったようだ。[It appears that this place used to be a school.]
この酒は水のようだ。[This sake is like water.]
WILD Examples:
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