ようだ details
write + it seems
kaku you da
it seems; it appears; like
meaning: seem to write
隣の住人は毎朝早く出かけるようだ。
tonari no juunin wa maiasa hayaku dekakeru you da.
The person next door seems to head out early every morning. neutral
受賞の知らせを聞いて、まるで夢のようだと思った。
jushou no shirase o kiite, marude yume no you da to omotta.
Hearing the news of the award, I felt it was like a dream. neutral
- past
- polite
Examples
it seems; it appears — the speaker's inference from available evidence
隣の住人は毎朝早く出かけるようだ。
tonari no juunin wa maiasa hayaku dekakeruyouda.
The person next door seems to head out early every morning. neutral
隣の部屋には誰もいないようだ。
tonari no heya ni wa dare mo inai you da.
It seems no one is in the room next door. neutral
お客様はまだ到着されていないようです。
okyakusama wa mada touchaku sarete inai you desu.
It appears the guest has not yet arrived. formal
like; as if — a simile, often reinforced with まるで
受賞の知らせを聞いて、まるで夢のようだと思った。
jushou no shirase o kiite, marude yume no you da to omotta.
Hearing the news of the award, I felt it was like a dream. neutral
Formation
{V}ようだattaches to dictionary formplain clause + ようだattaches to plain clause{N}のようだattaches to nounna-adj + なようだattaches to na-adjective
Notes
Related patterns
Similar
Same inference split by register — ようだ is the written and formal-spoken form, みたいだ its everyday spoken twin; a casual chat full of ようだ sounds stiff, a report full of みたいだ sounds unedited.
Both render "seems", but ようだ marks the speaker's own inference from evidence at hand, while らしい points to outside information — and after nouns らしい can flip to "typical of" (春らしい), a reading ようだ never has.
Both judge from evidence, but 降りそうだ reads imminent potential off how things look ("about to"), while ようだ concludes a present state of affairs (どうやら雨のようだ) — そう predicts, ようだ diagnoses.