みたいに/みたいな
- 1Resemblance or comparison: doing something, or being a certain way, in a manner that resembles something else.Ex. 1
- 2Example: naming a representative instance of a kind of thing ("such as").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).
This browser can't play pronunciations (needs Safari 18.4 or later, or Chrome / Edge / Firefox).
Common in everyday conversation and casual writing, and often reinforced with まるで for vivid comparisons. It is the informal counterpart of ように/ような, which is preferred in formal speech and writing. The same resemblance sense can end a sentence as みたいだ.
Do not insert の between a noun and みたい; say 子供みたいに, not 子供のみたいに.
Note that みたいに modifies a later verb or adjective, not necessarily the next word (彼みたいに日本語を話す), while みたいな modifies a noun.
Learners should avoid みたいに/みたいな in formal writing and use ように/ような instead.
- 1.みたいだN4「みたいだ」 is used at the end of a sentence as a predicate and, besides similes, can also express conjecture ("it seems that…"); 「みたいに/みたいな」 are its conjugated forms, which modify verbs, adjectives, or nouns and can also give examples. Both lean colloquial.
- 2.ように/ようなN3「ように/ような」 can replace this pattern in both the simile and example senses, with a neutral, slightly formal tone that is also common in writing; nouns require 「の」 and な-adjectives require 「な」 before them. They also have a separate use, as in 「前に述べたように」, meaning "just as…"
- 3.ようだN4For similes, 「ような/ように」 are interchangeable with this pattern but more formal, and they connect differently: nouns take 「の」 and な-adjectives take 「な」, as in 「子供のように」. 「ようだ」 can also express conjecture ("it seems").
- 4.らしいN4「みたいに/みたいな」 express similes and examples, whereas 「らしい」 expresses conjecture based on hearsay or signs. 「子供みたいな」 compares someone to a child (being like a child), while 「子供らしい」 means having a child's typical traits, so the two should not be swapped.
- 5.まるでN3「まるで」 is an adverb placed earlier in the sentence to strengthen the "just like" tone; it often works together with 「みたいに/みたいな」 but cannot replace them. It is neutral in register and can also emphasize degree, as in 「まるで違う」, but it does not give examples.
- 6.ように見えるN4「ように見える」 functions as a predicate meaning something visually "looks like" something and can express conjecture or simile but not examples, whereas 「みたいに/みたいな」 function adverbially or adnominally and lean colloquial. 「ように見える」 takes 「の」 after nouns and 「な」 after な-adjectives.
みたいだ, ようだ, らしい and ように見える are predicates that express resemblance, appearance or conjecture, while みたいに/みたいな connect to a following verb or noun; ように/ような has the same functions but is more formal. まるで is an adverb that often precedes みたいに to emphasize a comparison, and it cannot express the example sense.
