～ようだ / ～みたい

How it works

～ようだ and ～みたい(だ) both let you say that something appears to be the case, judging from what you see, hear or feel, or that one thing resembles another. They attach to the end of a plain-form clause or to a noun.

• Conjecture: 疲れているようだ ／ 疲れているみたい — “(he) seems tired” (you can see it in his face).
• Resemblance: 夢のようだ ／ 夢みたい — “it is like a dream”.

The two differ in how they connect and in register:

• ようだ behaves like a な-adjective. Verbs and い-adjectives attach directly (降るようだ、高いようだ), な-adjectives need な (静かなようだ), nouns need の (学生のようだ). Before a noun it becomes ような, before a verb or adjective ように.
• みたい(だ) attaches directly to everything, nouns and な-adjectives included (学生みたい、静かみたい). Before a noun it becomes みたいな, before a verb みたいに. It is casual: use ようだ／ようです in writing, presentations and careful polite conversation.

Polite forms: ～ようです ／ ～みたいです。 Past: ～ようだった ／ ～みたいだった。 Negative inference: 来ないようだ (it seems he is not coming).

Examples

• 田中さんは今日は忙しいようです。（たなかさん は きょう は いそがしい ようです）— Tanaka seems to be busy today.
• 外は雨が降っているみたいだ。（そと は あめ が ふって いる みたいだ）— It looks like it is raining outside.
• 彼女は日本人のように日本語を話す。（かのじょ は にほんじん の ように にほんご を はなす）— She speaks Japanese like a Japanese person.
• この店は今日は休みみたいですね。（この みせ は きょう は やすみ みたい です ね）— Looks like this shop is closed today.
• 夢のような一日だった。（ゆめ の ような いちにち だった）— It was a day like a dream.
• 弟は先生みたいな話し方をする。（おとうと は せんせい みたいな はなしかた を する）— My little brother talks like a teacher.

Compare with

• ～そうだ (appearance): 雨が降りそうだ describes what is about to happen from its look (“it looks like rain”); 雨が降っているようだ is a judgment that it is raining, from indirect signs. The hearsay ～そうだ (降るそうだ = “I hear it will rain”) is a separate pattern again.
• ～らしい: leans on what you heard or on what is typical (男らしい = manly); ようだ leans on your own perception.
• ～はずだ and ～かもしれない: はずだ is a logical expectation (“it should be”), かもしれない a bare possibility; ようだ sits in between, an inference with evidence behind it.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• Spanish and French speakers copy the connection of ようだ onto みたい and vice versa: ✗ 学生ようだ ✗ 静かようだ (you need 学生のようだ、静かなようだ), while ✗ 学生のみたい is wrong because みたい attaches directly: 学生みたい。
• Spanish como and French comme cover both comparison and role, Japanese does not: 子供のように泣く (cries like a child) is a comparison, but “trabaja como profesor” is 先生として働いている, never ✗ 先生のように働いている, which would mean he merely resembles a teacher.
• Spanish parece covers appearance, judgment and hearsay, so learners reach for そうだ everywhere: 忙しいそうです means “I hear he is busy”, not “he seems busy”. Say 忙しそうです (his face says so) or 忙しいようです (the evidence says so).
• English speakers who met ～たい before みたい read it as 見たい (want to see) and let the IME write it that way: ✗ 夢見たいな一日 ✗ 先生見たいな話し方。 The comparison word is always kana (夢みたいな一日、先生みたいな話し方): テレビが見たい is “I want to watch TV”, テレビみたい is “it is like a TV”, and since みたいです in a business email reads as chatty, formal writing switches to ようです.