Japanese N4
Lesson 11 of 24
Like Somewhere Else
about 12 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Say what something seems to be, from evidence.
- Compare one thing to another.
Words this lesson teaches
- みたい
- seems like, looks like
- べつ
- different, another
- ゆめ
- a dream
- かくど
- an angle
- ひろい
- spacious, wide
- おしいれ
- a cupboard, a storage closet
- うつります
- comes out (in a photo)
- ほんもの
- the real thing
What it explains
ようだ / みたい: reasoning from what is in front of you
Where そう on the stem is a first impression and そう on the plain form is hearsay, ようだ is a conclusion: you have looked at the evidence and this is what you make of it. It attaches to plain forms, and to nouns with の (みたい takes the noun bare).
〜のように is comparison, not inference
「ゆめの ように きれいです」 does not claim it might be a dream. It is a simile: as pretty as a dream. Same よう, adverbial ending, and the job changes from guessing to comparing. If you can put like in English and mean it literally, this is the one.
The scene itself is in the app.
Lesson one of this track is free to read in full. From lesson two on, the story, the audio and the review are part of a free account.