Page 356 - Basic Japanese

noun phrase. A colloquial synonym of …(no) yō (na) in the

meanings ‘like’ is …mitai (na). Here are some examples:

ここはアメリカのようです。(ここはアメリカみたいで

す。)
Koko wa Amerika no yō desu. (Koko wa Amerika mitai

desu.)
This place is like America.

その映画の話はまるで私の経験のような話でした。

Sono eiga no hanashi wa marude watashi no keiken no
yō na hanashi deshita.

The story of that movie was just like my own
experiences.

(2) …no yō ni
A NOUN PHRASE + no + yō + ni means IN A WAY LIKE the noun

phrase, IN A MANNER LIKE the noun phrase.

日本人のように話します。
Nihon-jin no yō ni hanashimasu.
He talks like a Japanese person.

あれは老人ホームのように見えました。

Are wa rōjin hōmu no yō ni miemashita.
That looked like a nursing home.

子供のように泣き出しました。

Kodomo no yō ni naki dashimashita.
He burst into tears like a child.

(3) …yō da
A MODIFYING PHRASE + yō + COPULA means it APPEARS or SEEMS
that the phrase is so.