modality N4 common casualwritten
〜ような — like ~ / such as ~
〜ような ・ ような
Builds on ようだ
Meaning
- like ~ / ~-like (resemblance) / such as ~ (giving an example) — the noun-modifying form of ようだ
Key sentence
夢のような話だ。
It's a dream-like story.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| noun | N + の + ような + noun | 夢のような / 天使のような |
| plain verb / i-adjective | V/A(plain) + ような + noun | 聞いたことがあるような名前 |
Variants
〜よな — The casual sentence-ender 〜よな (= よね, masculine) is unrelated to this 〜ような and just softens an assertion: いいよな ('it's good, right?').
Examples
天使のような笑顔の子供だった。
It was a child with an angel-like smile.
田中さんのような先生になりたい。
I want to become a teacher like Tanaka.
りんごやみかんのような果物が好きだ。
I like fruit such as apples and oranges.
When you can't use it
- ような modifies a following noun; to modify a verb instead, use ように (鳥のように飛ぶ). Don't swap them — ✗鳥のような飛ぶ.
Easily confused with
ようだ ような is simply the noun-modifying form of ようだ. ようだ ends a sentence (天使のようだ); ような sits before a noun (天使のような顔). 〜みたいな Same job, casual register: 天使のような (neutral/written) ↔ 天使みたいな (conversational, and no の). 〜ように ような modifies a noun ('a ~-like thing'); ように modifies a verb or sets a purpose ('so that ~ / in a ~ way'). The ending picks the target.
See 〜ような in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜ような the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar. Editorial confidence: medium.