～かのよう
as if / as though
～かのよう follows a plain-form clause and means “as if ...” or “as though ...”. It likens a situation to something that is not actually the case, and it is frequently reinforced with まるで (“just as if”).
Before a verb it takes the form かのように; at the end of a sentence it becomes かのようだ, and before a noun, かのような.
1. Describing how someone acts: ～かのように + verb
Use かのように to say that someone behaves as if some untrue situation were real.
彼は何も知らないかのように振る舞った。
“He behaved as if he knew nothing.”
- 彼（かれ）= he
- は = topic marker
- 何も（なにも）= nothing (with a negative)
- 知らない（しらない）= does not know
- かのように = as if
- 振る舞った（ふるまった）= behaved
2. At the end of a sentence: ～かのようだ
The same comparison can close the sentence as かのようだ (past: かのようだった).
久しぶりに故郷に帰ると、時間が止まったかのようだった。
“When I went back to my hometown after a long time, it was as if time had stopped.”
- 久しぶりに（ひさしぶりに）= for the first time in a long while
- 故郷（こきょう）= hometown
- に = direction marker
- 帰る（かえる）= to return
- と = when (conditional)
- 時間（じかん）= time
- が = subject marker
- 止まった（とまった）= had stopped
- かのようだった = it was as if
～ようだ states a genuine guess, the speaker thinks it may really be true. ～かのように is a deliberate comparison with something the speaker knows is not true: in the first example above, he clearly does know something.
How to form it
Plain-form clause + かのように (+ verb) / かのようだ (sentence-final) / かのような + noun
- 知らない（しらない）= does not know → 知らないかのように（しらないかのように）= as if (he) didn't know
- 止まる（とまる）= to stop → 止まったかのようだ（とまったかのようだ）= it is as if it had stopped
- 夢を見ている（ゆめをみている）= is dreaming → 夢を見ているかのような（ゆめをみているかのような）= dream-like (before a noun)
Key idea
～かのように paints a vivid “as if” picture that both speaker and listener understand to be contrary to fact.
Other N2 grammar
Updated .