You use this to say something 'seems' or 'appears' to be true. You make a guess based on what you see or hear.
Verb [dictionary form] + ようですPrimary
い-Adjective + ようです
な-Adjective + な + ようです
Noun + の + ようです
You use this to say something 'seems' or 'appears' to be true. You make a guess based on what you see or hear.
隣の部屋からピアノの音がします。誰か練習しているようです。
I can hear a piano from the next room. It seems someone is practicing.
昨日の試験は、みんなの顔を見ると、かなり難しかったようです。
Judging from everyone's faces, yesterday's exam seems to have been quite difficult.
山田さんは会議に遅れていますね。何かトラブルがあったようです。
Mr. Yamada is late for the meeting. It looks like he ran into some kind of trouble.
あの人は、ここの学生ではないようです。
It seems that person is not a student here.
彼は何か言いたそうな顔をしていた。
He had a look on his face as if he wanted to say something.
You use 〜ようです when you guess something. Your guess comes from what you see or hear. It is like saying 'it seems' or 'it looks like'. You are making a smart guess based on clues.
This is different from other similar words. '〜そうです' is for things you see right now. '〜らしいです' is for things you heard from someone else. '〜みたいです' is like '〜ようです' but more casual.
Watch out: The word before ようです changes. If you use a な-adjective, add な. For example, say 元気なようです. If you use a noun, add の. For example, say 風邪のようです. Verbs and い-adjectives connect directly.
Use this when you want to make your words sound softer. It helps you be more polite. It is good for talking about difficult things.
Track your mastery
Kumi's KMT system tracks your mastery across kanji, vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Create a free account to use it on 220,000+ concepts.