like・similar to
as if
the same as
Structure
- Noun + の + ごとく
- Noun + の + ごとき + Noun
- Noun + の + ごとし 。(end of sentence)
硬
[ごとく = formal のように・ごとき = formal のような. ごとし is old-fashioned]
Why is my answer incorrect in this case? のごとき fits in with the structure as well as the explanation written in orange (i.e. noun + のごとき + noun) but it says it is incorrect. Any ideas?
It’s not the garden that’s like a swift wind.
Oh I think I understand, so you could put a 、 after ごとき and that would also look OK, right?
There is a popular video game series called 龍が如く. This grammar point explanation indicates that construction with a noun must link with a の, like this: 龍の如く.
So we have a contradiction, and either the game title is a style choice or the grammar point is unnecessarily narrow. Can anyone tell me which is the case?
Hey @cloud_ctrl !
This is a style choice made by the game creator!
The title was supposed to be 「龍の如く」, but they changed it to 「龍が如く」to make the title more impactful. This is the official answer they gave on a Q & A!
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Thank you for the great response. How interesting!
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Hi everyone,
I summon the Bunpro マスター for a point that’s both bugging and fascinating me. Right after studying this N1 grammar point, I spotted ごとき in the wild (the anime is Hajime No Ippo, for the curious).
Is this the same ごとき as the formal grammar point?
I don’t know why, but I was really shocked when I understood the meaning without looking it up.
If it is the same, I get the feeling that formal Japanese - especially N1 grammar points - which are often looked down on online for some reason, are actually used paradoxically in informal contexts as a joke. Am I correct?
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It is, although in this case the implication is more specific.
(person/thing)ごとき is often meant as a deprecatory construction “the likes of (person)”, “someone as weak/useless/etc as (person)”, “something as insignificant/etc as (thing)”.
The grammar point has one example of it, although without a specific explanation: 風邪ごとき “something as insignificant as a cold”.
I think when it’s used in the literary meaning, it’s usually connected with の, and this version is usually connected directly as a suffix.
There are many examples parsed from LNs in ごとき – Vocabulary details – jpdb, but unfortunately you need to be registered to see examples there.
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oh thanks for you insight!
What do you think about the idea that sometimes N1 formal grammar points are used in a humorous manner? I actually do the same thing in my mother tongue as well. If this is true, it’s strange that the Japanese learner community doesn’t highlight this aspect of formal grammar.