みたいだ
- 1Compares something to something else it resembles ('like ~').Ex. 1
- 2Expresses the speaker's inference from observation ('it seems that ~').Ex. 2
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A conversational pattern, common in everyday speech and casual writing. It covers the same two meanings as ようだ, but ようだ sounds more formal and suits written or polite contexts. みたいな and みたいに are its attributive and adverbial forms.
Do not put の or だ between a noun and みたいだ; say 夢みたいだ, not 夢のみたいだ or 夢だみたいだ.
Note that non-past な形容詞 attach by the stem alone: 静かみたいだ, not 静かなみたいだ.
Note that みたいだ sounds casual; in formal writing or speech, use ようだ instead.
- ようだN4「ようだ」 has essentially the same two senses as 「みたいだ」 — conjecture and simile — and the two are interchangeable, but 「ようだ」 sounds more formal and suits written or polite contexts. Attach 「の」 after nouns (「学生のようだ」) and 「な」 after な-adjectives (「静かなようだ」).
- らしいN4「らしい」 also expresses conjecture, but it draws on outside information such as hearsay or news reports and can mean 'I hear that...'; its register is neutral. It has no simile sense, and after a noun it takes a separate meaning of 'typical of / befitting' (「男らしい」), conjugating like an い-adjective.
- そうに / そうなN4「そうに / そうな」 forms judgments purely from appearance and carries no simile meaning. It attaches to adjective stems or a verb's ます-stem, never to nouns, and with verbs it can also mean 'on the verge of...'; only its conjecture sense is close to 「みたいだ」, and its register is neutral.
- っぽいN3「っぽい」 conjugates like an い-adjective, stresses having a certain trait, and often carries a negative nuance; it can also mean 'apt to (do something)' or that something contains too much of a given element or leans toward a certain color. For likening a whole to something else, 「みたいだ」 is the usual choice, though the two are close in casual spoken conjecture.
- みたいに/みたいなN4「みたいに/みたいな」 are the modifying forms of 「みたいだ」: 「みたいに」 attaches to verbs or adjectives, 「みたいな」 attaches to nouns, and both can express simile or give examples. Use 「みたいだ」 when it serves as the predicate at the end of a sentence.
ようだ has the same meanings but is more formal and takes の/な after nouns and な形容詞 (夢のようだ). らしい leans toward hearsay or typical qualities, そうな/そうに describe how something looks and attach to stems, っぽい is a casual '-ish' suffix, and みたいに/みたいな are simply the adverbial and attributive forms of みたいだ itself.
