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Languages Study | Languages of the East | Japanese III

ÀÓÄÈÎ 428 | GRAMMAR II - 17.05 : ~mitai desu
     
Grammar II - 17.05 Grammar L4 - 008 Menu - Grammar
～みたいです ~mitai desu
 

みたいです - mitai desu (it looks like...) follows a noun and expresses the idea
that something or somebody resembles the thing or the person described by the noun.
The resemblance noted is usually in terms of external characteristics, but not necessarily so.
私の父はジェリー・ガルシアみたいです。 My dad looks/acts like Jerry Garcia.
(Has a portly figure? Wears tie-dye shirts? Has an interesting taste in certain chemicals?)

watashi-no chichi-wa jerii garushia mitai desu.

  
あの人はゴリラみたいです。 That person over there is like a gorilla.
(Sturdily built? Thumps his chest often? Good at climbing trees?)
ano hito-wa gorira mitai desu.  
 

mitai desu can also follow a verb (*7) and expresses the idea that something "appears to be the case."
It can follow the short form of the present tense and the past tense, both in the affirmative and in the negative.
雨が降ったみたいです。 I looks like it has rained.

ame-ga futta mitai desu.

  
あの人はおなかがすいているみたいです。 It looks like that person is hungry.

ano hito-wa onaka-ga suite-iru mitai desu.

  
あの人は昨日の夜寝なかったみたいです。 It looks like that person did not sleep last night.
ano hito-wa kinoo-no yoru nenakatta mitai desu.  
先生はあした学校に来ないみたいです。 It looks like the professor is not coming to school tomorrow.
sensei-wa ashita gakkoo-ni konai mitai desu.  
   
  *7

mitai desu can in fact follow adjectives too,
but it is far more common to use soo desu with adjectives.
See Lesson 13 for the adjective base +soo desu construction.