How to say “It appears as if(~ようです)” in Japanese

Hello guys how are you today? You “seem” to be ready for some more incredible Japanese lessons. Well, that’s perfect because “it looks as if” we are about to supply one for you. You probably guessed it by now that today we are going to be learning all about ようです YOU DESU. This is a little piece of grammar that goes at the end of sentences to express something seeming or looking like something. 

Learning to say thing like “She seems to be down” with ようです in Japanese

We we will be breaking today’s lesson down into the following 5 segments:

1. We will be looking at an overview of ようです and looking at the definition to give you a better understanding of the meaning.
2. We will then look at how to create ようです sentences along with the conjugations for both nouns and adjectives. 
3. Next we will offer up some tasty example sentences with ようです to help you get used to hearing it in different situations.
4. We will show you a great technique you can use to put things into practice in your own time.
5. Lastly we will have a short summary of today’s lesson to ensure that you haven’t missed anything. 

This is going to be a really useful lesson today and one that will require your full concentration. So turn off all distractions, grab a hot coffee and let’s get to learning! 

An overview of ようです 

Learn the definition and further understanding of the meaning.

So what exactly is ようです? Well it means “appears; seems; looks as if~” in Japanese with ようです you can say things like .

it appears as if it will rain

it seems as if she didn’t turn up.

it looks as if it might not happen

ようです  can also be said as ようだ as a more casual form of the expression. 

You may have also heard about そうです which means something very similar. However with ようです the likelihood of the speculated statement is more likely to occur. 

Now we have a good understanding of the meaning. Let’s look at how to form sentences with it. 

How to create ようです sentences

conjugations for both nouns and adjectives. 

So adding ようです into a sentence, how do we do it? Well it always comes after a noun or adjective to end the sentence. Depending on whether it is an い adjective, な adjective or a noun the ending changes. Take a look at this table below. 

い-adjective	+ ようです	むずかしいMuzukashiidifficult	むずかしいようですMuzukashii you desuSeems difficult
な-adjective	+ な+ ようです	かんたんKantaneasy	かんたんなようですKantan na you desuSeems easy
Noun	Noun + の + ようです	あめAmeRain	あめのようですAme no you desuSeems like Rain

Now that you can see how you use ようです with different nouns and adjective lets look at building a sentence. 

かのじょはかなしいようです。
kanojo wa kanashii you desu.
She seems down 

In the sentnece we are simply adding ようです to the end of the sentnece after the adjective to indicate how something would seem based on our judgement and any evidence. 

We will get more clarification on a bigger scope of situations in the example section next.

Let’s look at some example sentences with ようです to help you

Get used to hearing ようです in different situations.

Let’s now have a look at a variety of sentences to kick us off and get us moving.

We are starting off with a nice simple sentence that is easy to remember and really useful. 

そのようだ。
sono you da.
It seems to be that way.

The next uses a noun so we have to add の in between. Imagine if the clouds have turned a dark grey and it is very cold. You could say:

ゆきのようだ。
yuki no you da.
It looks like snow..

Maybe you are with a friend in this next situation and you are talking about another friend who was a little sad. Perhaps you have just met and seen how GENKI he was you could say:

かれはかなしくないようだ。
kare wa kanashikunai you da.
He doesn't seem sad.

Here we have a past form state with だった after it. You can also simply add ようです after this too.  

きみはむちだったようです。
Kimi wa muchi datta you desu.
It seems that you were a bit ignorant.

Great work guys we are almost there. We need to now have a look at a technique you can use to really master today’s topic.

A great technique to hep you master ようです

Put things into practice in your own time.

So now that you’ve learnt all about ようです its time to practice it for yourself. 

Start by writing down all of the example sentences from today’s lesson. Read them back to yourself many times until you know them like the back of your hand. This will allow your brain to get used to the pattern. 

After this you need to start making your own sentences daily 5 – 6 we recommend.

After a week of doing this you will have really got to grips with ようです and will be able to use it comfortably. This is a really important part of the lesson and should not be skipped. Remember, if you don;t use it, you lose it. 

A short summary of today’s lesson

Ensure that you haven’t missed anything. 

Now we will partake in a small summary of today’s lesson. 

1. ようです means “appears; seems; looks as if~” in Japanese
2. ようだ can be used as a casual form of ようです
3. There are different ways to use ようです after i / na adjective and nouns
4. Remember to practice with the technique in the previous section

So guys there we have it, we really hope that you have learnt a lot from and enjoyed today’s online Japanese lesson. If you have any more comments or suggestions as to what you would like to see in the next online Japanese lesson from BondLingo then please do get in touch with us. See you next time, じゃね。

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