Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 3: 10/18

様(よう)だIt seems that, It appears that, It looks like

More formal than みたい

Structure

Verb + よう + だ
［い］Adjective + よう + だ
［な］Adjective + な + よう + だ
Noun + の + よう + だ

Details

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About ようだ

In a similar way to みたい, ようだ is used when making observations about something in Japanese. This auxiliary verb is used to express three primary things.

たとえ - Using (A) as an example to highlight the way that (B) looks/is acting.

推定(すいてい) - Using (A) as a reason for an assumption made about (B).

例示(れいじ) - Presenting (A) as an example of what (B) is.

ようだ is usually based on direct information/experience, and shows that the speaker has high confidence in what they are saying. It may also frequently appear in its kanji form, 様(よう)だ.

ようだ can be used with any verb, い-Adjective, な-Adjective, or noun. However, it requires な before it when used with な-Adjectives, or の when used with nouns.

Although ようだ and そうだ are often used in similar situations, そうだ shows that the speaker has a lot less confidence in their statement than ようだ. Because of this, ようだ is a much better choice when stating things that are obvious/observable by anyone.

Caution

ようだ is considerably more formal than みたい, and is therefore less common in casual conversation.

Synonyms

Examples

--:--

    ほとんど無(な)くなっているようだ。

    It seems that most of it is gone.

    彼(かれ)はここに来(こ)ないようだ。

    It seems like he won't come here.

    今日(きょう)の天気(てんき)は台風(たいふう)のようだ。

    Today's weather looks like a typhoon.

    彼(かれ)の話(はな)し方(かた)は歌(うた)っているようだ。

    His way of speaking seems like singing.

    あの人(ひと)はお金(かね)を持(も)っていないようだが、本当(ほんとう)はお金(かね)持(も)ち。

    That person seems like he doesn't have any money, but he really is rich.

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ようだ – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (18 in total)

  • Eruliuce

    Eruliuce

    Hello,
    I have a question about one of the example sentences in this lesson :
    彼はいつも変な事言っているけど、本当は真面目なようだ。

    I wonder why there isn’t a particle between 変な事 and 言っている.
    I would have put a を there. Would it be wrong ? If not, is it optional for some reason ?

  • casual

    casual

    You would be completely correct in putting を there.

    But in informal speech (friends) and informal writing (chat, SNS) particles are often omitted when they are obvious from context. I don’t know if there are specific rules, but this take sounds reasonable to me: ellipsis - What are the guidelines for omitting particles? - Japanese Language Stack Exchange.

    In this sentence I’m guessing enunciating ことを was too much hassle and so the speaker decided to ditch the を. Since it seems to come from a chat between friends, that sounds fine.

  • Eruliuce

    Eruliuce

    Thank you. I knew you could omit か at the end of questions, but it didn’t occur to me you could drop other particles inside the sentence.
    I suppose it’ll become natural once I hear a lot of spoken Japanese.

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