みたいに details
write + like
kaku mitai ni
like; as if — a spoken simile comparing something to what it resembles
meaning: as if writing
この部屋は図書館みたいに静かだ。
kono heya wa toshokan mitai ni shizuka da.
This room is quiet, like the library. neutral
あの子、飛ぶみたいに走ってったよ。
ano ko, tobu mitai ni hashittetta yo.
That kid ran off, as if flying. casual
- dictionary form
- past
- negative
- negative + past
- noun
- adnominal
Examples
like; as if — compares something to what it resembles, in everyday speech
この部屋は図書館みたいに静かだ。
kono heya wa toshokan mitai ni shizuka da.
This room is quiet, like the library. neutral
あの子、飛ぶみたいに走ってったよ。
ano ko, tobu mitai ni hashittetta yo.
That kid ran off, as if flying. casual
子供みたいに泣かないでよ。
kodomo mitai ni nakanaide yo.
Don't cry like a child! casual
猫は死んだみたいに動かなかった。
neko wa shinda mitai ni ugokanakatta.
The cat didn't move, as if it were dead. neutral
彼は子供みたいな笑顔を見せた。
kare wa kodomo mitai na egao o miseta.
He gave a childlike smile. neutral
Formation
{N}みたいにattaches to noun{P}みたいにattaches to plain form
Variant notes
- みたいな — sits straight before the noun it colours — 子供みたいな声, 嘘みたいな話.
Notes
Related patterns
Similar
みたいに takes the noun bare where のように needs の — 春みたいに, ×春のみたいに, 春のように — and the register follows the same split, みたいに being the spoken shape and のように the written and formal-spoken one.
みたいに works adverbially, modifying the verb that follows (氷みたいに冷たい "cold like ice" — nothing here is actually ice), a slot っぽい has no equivalent for (×氷っぽく冷たい); after a person noun っぽい also reads as mildly critical (子供っぽい "childish"), where みたい carries no such judgment.
Lookalikes
The same みたい one gear apart — 病気みたいだ closes the sentence as the speaker's inference ("he seems ill"), while 病気みたいに modifies what follows as a comparison ("as an illness does"), so みたいだ can end a sentence and みたいに never can.