～ようです/～ようだ

Today’s Grammar Point: ～ようです/～ようだ

Today’s grammar point is ～ようです/～ようだ, which is equivalent of “It seems…” in English. Unlike ～そうです/～そうだ, ～ようです/～ようだ does not imply that it is your personal opinion or that the information is something you have heard. This is often used to soften the tone of a statement even if the speaker is sure of the information stated.

Connection of ～ようです/～ようだ

If you are talking about something that currently appears to be that way or something that’s going to happen:

[noun] のようです/[noun] のようだ
[plain form verb] ようです/ [plain form verb]ようだ
[いadj] ようです/[いadj]ようだ
[なadj] なようです/[なadj] なようだ

If you are talking about something that appeared to be that way before:

[noun] だったようです/[noun] だったようだ
[past plain form verb] ようです/ [past plain form verb] ようだ
[いadj stem] かったようです/[いadj stem] かったようだ
[なadj] だったようです/[なadj] だったようだ

Examples of ～ようです/～ようだ

このお寺てらは京都きょうとのお寺てらのようですね。
It seems this temple is a temple in Kyoto.

今夜こんやは雨あめが降ふるようだね。
It seems it will rain tonight.

このカレーは、からいようです。
It seems this curry is hot.

ジョンさんの息子むすこさんは真面目まじめなようですね。
It seems John’s son is studious.

ジョンさんの車くるまはもともとジョンさんのおばあさんの車くるまだったようです。
It seems John’s car used to belong to his grandmother.

昨夜ゆうべは雨あめが降ふったようね。
It seems it rained last night.

ジョンさんの息子むすこさんは今いまは背せが高たかいけど、昔むかしはとても小ちいさかったようですね。
John’s son is very tall now but it seems he used to be very small.

日本にほんのビザを取とるのは、とても簡単かんたんだったようだ。
It seems obtaining a visa to Japan used to be very easy.

Answer to Today’s Quiz

As shown in the first example sentence, the correct answer is c. よう.

If the sentence does not have の just before the brackets, b. みたい and d. らしい can be used.

[noun] + のようです/[noun] + のようだ

[noun] + のようです/[noun] + のようだ can also be used to describe a resemblance. In this usage, のよう is often rephrased with みたい.

この梨なしはりんごのようだ。⇒この梨なしはりんごみたいだ。
This pear is like an apple.

Also ～よう can be used as a metaphor. For this usage, please see ～ような/ように…

Please visit my JLPT N4 Grammar and Vocab List page for more JLPT N4 grammar item.

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