Vocabulary

見る(み・る) ru-verb

to see

犬(いぬ)

dog

もう

already

売り切れ(う・り・き・れ)

sold out

制服(せい・ふく)

uniform

着る(き・る) ru-verb

to wear

姿(すがた)

figure

学生(がく・せい)

student

この

this (abbr. of これの)

ピザ(pi za)

pizza

お好み焼き(お・この・み・や・き)

okonomiyaki (Japanese-style pancake)

見える(み・える) ru-verb

to be visible

Another way to express similarity which is considered more casual is by using みたい. Do not confuse this with the たい conjugation of 見る. The main difference is that this みたい can be attached directly to nouns, adjectives, and verbs just like particles which i-adjectives like ～たい obviously can’t do.

Examples

1. もう売り切れみたい。
   Looks like it’s sold out already.

2. 制服を着ている姿をみると、学生みたいです。
   Looking at the uniform-wearing figure, (person) looks like a student.

The implied meaning here is the person wearing the uniform is not really a student because he/she only looks like a student. This is different from example 3 from the previous よう section which implied that the person appears to be (but might not be) a student. Again, we also can’t say おいしいみたい to say that something looks tasty because it implies that, in actuality, the food might not be so good.

Don’t forget that みたい does not conjugate like the ～たい form or i-adjectives.

• このピザはお好み焼きみたくない？
  (みたい conjugates like a na-adjective.)

• このピザはお好み焼きみたいじゃない？
  Doesn’t this pizza looks like okonomiyaki?

みたい is a grammar used mostly for conversational Japanese. Do not use it in essays, articles, or anything that needs to sound authoritative. You can use よう instead in the following fashion.

1. もう売り切れのようだ。
   It appears that it is sold-out already.

2. このピザはお好み焼きのように見える。
   This pizza looks like okonomiyaki.

Vocabulary

いい i-adj

good

バランス(ba ra n su)

balance

崩れる(くず・れる) ru-verb

to collapse; to crumble

一瞬(いっ・しゅん)

an instant

倒れる(たお・れる) ru-verb

to collapse; to fall

この

this (abbr. of これの)

辺り(あた・り)

vicinity

ある u-verb

to exist (inanimate)

漬物(つけ・もの)

pickled vegetable

おいしい i-adj

tasty

これ

this

結構(けっ・こう)

fairly, reasonably

やはり／やっぱり

as I thought

高い(たか・い) i-adj

high; tall; expensive

お前(お・まえ)

you (casual)

金髪(きん・ぱつ)

blond hair

女(おんな)

woman; girl

好き(す・き) na-adj

likable; desirable

もう

already

～時(～じ)

counter for hours

なる u-verb

to become

来る(く・る) exception

to come

ただ

free of charge; only

試合(し・あい)

match, game

その

that (abbr. of それの)

人(ひと)

person

学生(がく・せい)

student

かわいい i-adj

cute

かわいそう i-adj

pitiable

犬(いぬ)

dog

The problem with English is that the expression, “seems like” has too many meanings. It can mean similarity in appearance, similarity in behavior or even that current evidence points to a likely outcome. We will now learn how to say the third meaning: how to indicate a likely outcome given the situation.

Just like the grammar we have learned so far in this lesson, we can use this grammar by simply attaching そう to the end of verbs, and adjectives. However, there are four important different cases. Actually, I just noticed this but the conjugation rules are exactly the same as the ～すぎる grammar we learned in the last section. The only difference is that for the adjective いい, you need to change it to よさ before attaching そう to create よさそう.

1. Verb must be changed to the stem.

For ru-verbs, remove the る

• バランスが崩れて、一瞬倒れそうだった。
  Losing my balance, I seemed likely to fall for a moment.

For u-verbs, change the /u/ vowel sound to an /i/ vowel sound

• この辺りにありそうだけどな。
  It seems likely that it would be around here but…

2. The い in i-adjectives must be dropped except for いい.

In the next example, the い has been dropped from おいしい.

• この漬物はおいしそう！
  I bet this pickled vegetable is tasty! (This pickled vegetable looks good!)

3. いい must first be conjugated to よさ.

Exception: The only exception to this rule is the adjective いい. When using this grammar with いい, you must first change it to よさ.

• これも結構よさそうだけど、やっぱり高いよね。
  This one also seems to be good but, as expected, it’s expensive, huh?

Nothing needs to be done for na-adjectives.

• お前なら、金髪の女が好きそうだな。
  Knowing you, I bet you like blond-haired girls.

4. For all negatives, the い must be replaced with さ.

The negative of 来る is こない so when used with ～そう, it becomes こなさそう.

1. もう10時になったから、来なさそうだね。
   Since it already became 10

   , it’s likely that (person) won’t come.

2. これはただの試合じゃなさそうだ。
   This isn’t likely to be an ordinary match.

Identical to the ～すぎる grammar, i-adjectives that are derived from the negative ～ない like もったいない or 情けない also follow this rule as well (which would be もったいなさそう and 情けなさそう in this case).

5. This grammar does not work with plain nouns.

• その人は学生そう。

There are other grammar we have already covered that can be used to indicate that something is likely to be something else.

1. その人は学生でしょう。
   That person is probably student.

2. その人は学生だろう。
   That person is probably student.

Be careful never to use かわいい with this grammar. かわいそう is a completely different word used when you feel sorry for something or someone. かわいい means, “to look cute” already so you never need to use any of the grammar in this lesson to say something looks cute.

1. この犬はかわいそう。
   Oh, this poor dog.

2. この犬はかわいい。
   This dog is cute.

Vocabulary

明日(あした)

tomorrow

雨(あめ)

rain

降る(ふ・る)(u-verb)

to precipitate

毎日(まい・にち)

everyday

会う(あ・う) u-verb

to meet

行く(い・く) u-verb

to go

彼(かれ)

he; boyfriend

高校生(こう・こう・せい)

high school student

今日(きょう)

today

田中(た・なか)

Tanaka (last name)

来る(く・る) exception

to come

The reason that there are so many annoying rules to using ～そう is to distinguish it from this next grammar we will learn. This is a useful grammar for talking about things you heard that doesn’t necessary have anything to do with how you yourself, think or feel.

Unlike the last grammar we learned, you can simply attach そうだ to verbs and i-adjectives. For na-adjectives and nouns, you must indicate the state-of-being by adding だ to the noun/na-adjective. Also, notice that そう itself must always end in だ、です、or でございます. These differences are what distinguishes this grammar from the one we learned in the last section. There are no tenses for this grammar.

1. 明日、雨が降るそうだ。
   I hear that it’s going to rain tomorrow.

2. 毎日会いに行ったそうです。
   I heard he went to meet everyday.

Don’t forget to add だ for nouns or na-adjectives.

• 彼は、高校生だそうです。
  I hear that he is a high school student.

When starting the sentence with this grammar, you also need to add だ just like you do with だから

Ａ

今日、田中さんはこないの？

Is Tanaka-san not coming today?

Ｂ

だそうです。

So I hear.

Vocabulary

今日(きょう)

today

田中(た・なか)

Tanaka (last name)

来る(く・る) exception

to come

あの

that (over there) (abbr. of あれの)

人(ひと)

person

何(なん)

what

美由紀(み・ゆ・き)

Miyuki (first name)

友達(とも・だち)

friend

子(こ)

child

子供(こ・ども)

child

大人(おとな)

adult

する exception

to do

つもり

intention, plan

大騒ぎ(おお・さわ・ぎ)

big commotion

らしい can be directly attached to nouns, adjectives, or verbs to show that things appear to be a certain way due to what you’ve heard. This is different from ～そうだbecause ～そうだ indicates something you heard about specifically while らしい means things seem to be a certain way based on some things you heard about the subject. らしい conjugates like a normal i-adjective.

Example 1

Ａ

今日、田中さんはこないの？

Is Tanaka-san not coming today?

Ｂ

こないらしい。

Seems like it (based on what I heard).

Example 2

Ａ

あの人は何なの？

What is that person over there?

Ｂ

美由紀さんの友達らしいですよ。

Seems to be Miyuki-san’s friend (based on what I heard).

Another way to use らしい is to indicate that a person seems to be a certain thing due to his behavior.

1. あの子は子供らしくない。
   That child does not act like a child.

2. 大人らしくするつもりだったのに、大騒ぎしてしまった。
   Despite the fact that I planned to act like an adult, I ended up making a big ruckus.

Vocabulary

あの

that (over there) (abbr. of あれの)

人(ひと)

person

韓国人(かん・こく・じん)

Korean person

皆(みんな)

everybody

もう

already

全部(ぜん・ぶ)

everything

食べる(た・べる) ru-verb

to eat

恭子(きょう・こ)

Kyouko (first name)

全然(ぜん・ぜん)

not at all (when used with negative)

女(おんな)

woman; girl

A really casual way to express similarity is to attach っぽい to the word that reflects the resemblance. Because this is a very casual expression, you can use it as a casual version for all the different types of expression for similarity covered above.

"" っぽい"" conjugates just like an i-adjective, as seen by example 3 below.

1. あの人はちょっと韓国人っぽいよね。
   That person looks a little like Korean person, huh?

2. みんなで、もう全部食べてしまったっぽいよ。
   It appears that everybody ate everything already.

3. 恭子は全然女っぽくないね。
   Kyouko is not womanly at all, huh?