3 · Comparison
Like and as if: xiàng … yíyàng and hǎoxiàng
resemblance, similes and appearances
Xiàng is “to be like”: A xiàng B yíyàng makes a comparison or a simile; hǎoxiàng says “it seems”, “as if”.
At a glance
- Remember
- Xiàng resembles, xiàng … yíyàng compares, hǎoxiàng seems — and liking is xǐhuan.
- Form
- 她像她妈妈。A resembles B
- Signal words
- 像…一样
- 好像
- 似的
- 像…这样的
- 不像
- Trap
- Wrong:我像吃饺子。Right:我喜欢吃饺子。
Your turn
8 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| A resembles B | 她像她妈妈。 |
| as … as, in some way | 像雪一样白 |
| not like | 不像 |
| it seems | 他好像病了。 |
| as if, spoken | 好像…似的 |
| a … like this | 像北京这样的城市 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Xiàng is a verb, “to resemble”; it takes hěn and bù like any verb.
你长得很像你妈妈。You look a lot like your mother.
A xiàng B yíyàng + adjective or verb says in what way A is like B.
这儿的夏天像火炉一样热。Summer here is as hot as an oven.
Hǎoxiàng before the verb turns a statement into an impression: it seems, as if.
外面好像下雨了。It looks as if it’s started raining outside.
Xiàng … zhèyàng de before a noun gives an example of a kind.
像他这样的好人不多。There aren’t many good people like him.
Example sentences
这个孩子说话像大人一样。This child talks like a grown-up.
我好像在哪儿见过你。I think I’ve seen you somewhere before.
他一点儿也不像五十岁的人。He doesn’t look anything like fifty.
她高兴得像个孩子似的。She was as happy as a child.
大家好像都不知道这件事。Nobody seems to know about this.
像上海这样的城市，房子都很贵。In a city like Shanghai, housing is expensive.
7 more example sentences
这只猫的眼睛像宝石一样亮。This cat’s eyes shine like jewels.
他好像不太高兴。He doesn’t seem very happy.
你说得好像你去过似的。You talk as if you’d been there.
姐妹俩长得一点儿也不像。The two sisters look nothing alike.
今天暖和得像春天一样。Today is as warm as spring.
像你这么聪明的人，一定能学会。Someone as clever as you is bound to learn it.
我好像把手机忘在出租车上了。I think I’ve left my phone in the taxi.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English “like” is two different words that happen to look the same. “To be like” is 像; “to be fond of” is 喜欢. 我像… says “I resemble …”, which makes no sense before eating dumplings.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
像 is a verb, “to resemble, to be like”: 他很像他爸爸, “he looks a lot like his father”. Like any verb it takes 很 and 不: 一点儿也不像, “not like him at all”. Unlike English “like”, it never means “be fond of”; that is 喜欢.
To say in what way two things are alike, Chinese uses the frame A 像 B 一样, followed by an adjective or a verb phrase: 他的中文说得像中国人一样好, “he speaks Chinese as well as a Chinese person”. This is also how similes are made: 像雪一样白, “as white as snow”. 一样 can be left out, and 似的 can replace it in speech.
好像 stands before the verb or at the start of the sentence and means “it seems, apparently, as if”: 他好像病了, “he seems to be ill”. It softens a statement into an impression — the speaker is not sure, or does not want to sound sure. Often a 似的 or 一样 closes the picture: 好像在做梦一样, “as if I were dreaming”.
Before a noun, 像 … 这样的 or 那样的 gives an example of a kind: 像北京这样的大城市, “a big city like Beijing”. English “like” covers all of this with one word; Chinese keeps resemblance, impression and example apart, and keeps liking somewhere else entirely.
A closer look
Hǎoxiàng as a hedge
好像 is used far more often than English “it seems”, because it is the easiest way to make a statement less blunt. 你好像错了, “I think you may be wrong”, disagrees without claiming to be certain. Answering 好像是, “I think so”, leaves room for being mistaken.
Compare 看起来, “looks”, which judges from appearance only: 他看起来很累. 好像 can rest on anything — something heard, remembered, or guessed.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the comparison says “not as … as”
the frame is 没有 … 那么, or 不像 … 那么, not 不像 … 一样.
今天不像昨天那么冷。Today isn’t as cold as yesterday.
Once the sentence denies the likeness, the question is no longer “in what way alike” but “how far short”, and that is what 那么 measures.
Worth knowing (1)
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Xiàng as “for example”
At the head of a list, 像 means “such as, for instance”, much like 比如. It introduces examples rather than a comparison.
我喜欢运动，像游泳、跑步什么的。I like sport — swimming, running, that sort of thing.
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