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文法ぶんぽうGrammar Point

〜ごとき like / as if (literary): Meaning & Examples

gotoki · JLPT N1

JLPT N19 textsStudy card

〜ごとき means “like / as if (literary)”. It is a JLPT N1 pattern: below are its construction, the nuances that trip learners up, and the sentences where real Japanese writers use it.

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一枚いちまいStudy card

A free one-page study card for 〜ごとき (like / as if (literary)), JLPT N1: what it means, how it attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances that trip learners up. Read it right here, or take the PDF or PNG with you. We never ask for an email for this card.

The 〜ごとき study card: one A4 page holding the pattern, its JLPT N1 meaning, the construction rules, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuance notes.
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How 〜ごとき works

It survives in two opposite registers. Applied to yourself it is humble — 私ごときが意見を申し上げるのは (“for someone like me to offer an opinion…”). Applied to someone else it is contemptuous — 子供ごときに負けるとは (“to lose to a mere child”). Its relatives are ごとく (the adverb, “just as”) and ごとし (sentence-final), and all three belong to written, ceremonial or deliberately archaic Japanese.

構文こうぶんConstruction

  • Noun + ごとき — “someone or something like”

    私ごときには分かりません。 — Someone like me wouldn’t understand.

  • Noun + ごとき + noun — dismissive modifier

    子供ごとき相手に本気を出すな。 — Don’t go all out against a mere child.

  • Adverbial: 〜ごとく — “just as / like”

    矢のごとく走り去った。 — He shot off like an arrow.

  • Sentence-final: 〜ごとし

    光陰矢のごとし。 — Time flies like an arrow.

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

Someone like me could never fill that role.
Time flies like an arrow.
He shot off like an arrow.

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

  • It is written and archaic. The everyday equivalents are 〜のような, 〜みたいな and, for the contemptuous flavour, 〜なんか.
  • ごとく is the adverb and ごとき the modifier — the same split as 静かに and 静かな.
  • Its natural homes are proverbs, formal speeches, historical fiction and anything imitating classical style. Recognise it; produce it sparingly.
How 〜ごとき differs from similar patterns
  • 〜のような — 〜のような is the ordinary modern “like”, with no attitude attached. ごとき always brings either humility or contempt with it.
  • ごとし（如ごとし） — ごとし is the sentence-final form of this same word, kept alive mostly in proverbs like 光陰こういん矢やのごとし.
  • 〜みたい — 〜みたい is the casual spoken “like”. It sits at the opposite end of the register scale from ごとき, and the two never turn up in the same sentence.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

Write one humble sentence about yourself with 私わたしごとき and one dismissive line about an opponent. Then rewrite both with のような, and notice how completely the attitude drains out.

〜ごとき (like / as if (literary)) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

— from World Famous Ghost Stories (N1)

— from Beginning: The Telephone Incident (N1)

— from I Killed Zhang Zuolin (N1)

— from The Whistling Samurai (N1)

Appears in 9 of 367 texts in our library.

蔵書ぞうしょThe texts

9 texts in the library use 〜ごとき

Free to read in full. Furigana over every kanji, a dictionary on any word you tap, and an English breakdown of each sentence.

壇ノ浦の鬼火 cover Read 壇ノ浦の鬼火 The Ghost Fires of Dan no Ura 下村 千秋 47 min read · Short Story 番町皿屋敷 cover Read 番町皿屋敷 The Dish Mansion at Bancho 岡本 綺堂 85 min read · Short Story 私が張作霖を殺した cover Read 私が張作霖を殺した I Killed Zhang Zuolin 河本 大作 62 min read · Article 或る風潮について cover Read 或る風潮について On a Certain Trend 岸田 国士 27 min read · Article 口笛を吹く武士 cover Read 口笛を吹く武士 The Whistling Samurai 林 不忘 68 min read · Short Story 牡丹灯記 cover Read 牡丹灯記 The Peony Lantern 田中 貢太郎 58 min read · Short Story 中国怪奇小説集 cover Read 中国怪奇小説集 Collection of Chinese Strange Tales 岡本 綺堂 45 min read · Short Story 発端・電話事件 cover Read 発端・電話事件 Beginning: The Telephone Incident 式場 隆三郎 22 min read · Article 世界怪談名作集 cover Read 世界怪談名作集 World Famous Ghost Stories ビアス アンブローズ 62 min read · Short Story

解説かいせつBackground

Where this 〜ごとき explanation comes from

〜ごとき sits at JLPT N1 in the 302-point taxonomy every text in this library is tagged against. Each text is read for the patterns it contains, which is what lets this page list every text that uses 〜ごとき and pull its example sentences out of them.

The example sentences were not written to demonstrate the rule. They are quoted from published Japanese texts in this library (World Famous Ghost Stories and Beginning: The Telephone Incident among them), and each one links back to the story it came from, so you can read the sentence where it actually happened.

質問しつもんQuestions

〜ごとき: questions & answers

What does 〜ごとき mean?

It means “like” or “such as”, and it is the classical form behind 〜のような. What makes it distinctive is the attitude: 私ごとき is modest about yourself, while あいつごとき is contemptuous about someone else.

What is the difference between ごとき, ごとく and ごとし?

They are three forms of one word. ごとき modifies a noun (矢のごとき速さ), ごとく modifies a verb (矢のごとく走る), and ごとし ends a sentence (光陰矢のごとし). Modern Japanese would use ような, ように and ようだ.

Is 〜ごとき rude?

It can be, and deliberately so. Used of another person it belittles them — 新人ごときに負けるな. Used of yourself it is the opposite, a formal show of humility. Because there is no neutral middle, learners are safer with のような.

Is there a printable 〜ごとき cheat sheet?

Yes. A free one-page 〜ごとき (like / as if (literary)) study card sits at the top of this page, as both a PDF and a PNG. It carries the JLPT N1 meaning, how the pattern attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances learners get wrong. You do not need an account or an email address to download it.

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