かのようだ / かのように
- 1Likens the situation to a hypothetical one, often contrary to fact: "as if...".Ex. 1
- 2In 〜かのように振る舞う / 言う, describes someone behaving or speaking as if something were so, sometimes implying pretense.Ex. 2
Verb (plain form)The plain (non-ます) forms of a verb: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
行く・行かない・行った・行かなかった
The dictionary form is only one of these: 行く.
i-adj. (plain form)The plain (non-です) forms of an i-adjective: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
高い・高くない・高かった・高くなかった
The dictionary form is only one of these: 高い. The polite version adds です to the plain form.
na-adj. stemA na-adjective without な, i.e. the form listed in a dictionary.
静か・きれい・好き
Add な before a noun (静かな部屋); as a predicate, follow it with だ／です (静かだ).
Plain formThe plain forms without です／ます, for verbs, adjectives and nouns alike: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
行く・高い・静かだ・学生だ (and their negative and past forms)
Plain formThe plain forms without です／ます, for verbs, adjectives and nouns alike: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
行く・高い・静かだ・学生だ (and their negative and past forms)
PredicateThe part of a sentence that says what the subject is, what it is like, or what it does. In Japanese it usually comes at the end.
私は学生だ：学生だ・空が青い：青い・雨が降る：降る
This browser can't play pronunciations (needs Safari 18.4 or later, or Chrome / Edge / Firefox).
Compared with ようだ, the added か presents the situation as hypothetical, often implying that it is contrary to fact or not necessarily true: 彼は何も知らないかのように振る舞った (in fact he knew). It is often paired with まるで or あたかも, and the verb before it is often in the た form or ている form. 〜かのように振る舞う / 言う commonly describes someone behaving or speaking as if something were so, sometimes implying pretense. The tone is fairly literary; in speech みたいに is more common.
ようだ can express an evidence-based guess (雨が降ったようだ: it seems it rained); かのようだ likens things to a hypothetical situation and is not used to state such a guess.
Nouns and な-adjective stems usually take である: 夢であるかのようだ, 無関係であるかのような顔; forms without である also occur in speech (被害者かのような言い方), but 夢なかのようだ is wrong.
With the same connection, use かのようだ at the end of a sentence, かのような before nouns and かのように before verbs and adjectives; かのようの is wrong.
- 1.ように/ようなN3「ように／ような」 cover both comparison and examples, and what is compared need not be contrary to fact (雪のように白い); 「かのように」 presents the first part as hypothetical, often implying it is not actually so (知っているかのように話す).
- 2.まるでN3「まるで」 is an adverb that strengthens a comparison and can be followed by 「ようだ」, 「みたいだ」 or 「かのようだ」; 「かのようだ」 already carries the sense of a hypothetical comparison and does not need 「まるで」.
- 3.さもN1「さも」 is an adverb often used with 「かのように」 or 「ように」 to strengthen the impression that something really seems so (さも当然のように言う); deliberate pretense is only a possible implication of the context. 「かのように」 on its own just likens things to a hypothetical situation.
ように / ような can express comparison or examples, and what is compared need not be contrary to fact; かのようだ likens things to a hypothetical situation, often with a contrary-to-fact feel, and is more literary. まるで and さも are adverbs often used with this pattern to strengthen the comparison or the sense of putting on an act.
