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I know that ~ような means "looks like". In this context:

ここで立ち止る ような 時間はない。

does it mean:

"It appears it cannot stop here, there is no time"?

What I do understand is that ような is followed by a noun, which, in this case, is 時間.

I don't understand the "flow" of what comes after ような in this sentence. Why does it not include **ような?

Can someone please clarify?

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    It means, We don't have time to stop/stand still. There is no の before ような because 立ち止る is a verb. Like you could say うまくいくようにします。 This is the same よう/様.
    – oldergod
    Jan 31, 2012 at 4:25
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    Related: japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4431
    – user458
    Jan 31, 2012 at 17:41

3 Answers 3

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In this sentence, you could remove ような without changing the meaning much.

The ような adds a slight nuance of "or the like", i.e.

We don't have time for stopping or the like.

A very similar effect could be achieved by saying

ここで立ち止まる時間などない

I don't have the context here, but I would say that in this case it's probably used mainly for emphasis.

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  • +1 for looking into what I couldn't explain
    – Flaw
    Jan 31, 2012 at 8:45
  • Hmm, I had to downvote this, since ような here modifies 時間 (time), not 立ち止まる (stopping). You translate the phrase as "we don't have time for stopping, or the like" (i.e. stopping, or other such activities), whereas what's being said is "we don't have the kind of time needed for stopping" (see Hyperworm's answer). Feb 3, 2012 at 17:49
  • 立ち止まる時間などない has a similar effect to 立ち止まるような時間はない, but with a different nuance. When you add など to a negative statement, you're indicating that the statement you're negating is silly. Sort of like "We don't have time to stop" vs "of course we don't have time to stop". Other examples: おばけなどいない = of course there are no ghosts. お前の人形に興味などはない = of course I'm not interested in your dolls (など modifies 興味/interest, indicating that it's ridiculous to assume interest). おまえの人形などに興味はない = I don't care about your silly dolls (here など modifies 人形/doll), making it the direct subject of ridicule. Feb 3, 2012 at 18:18
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な is the attributive form for the copula だ. It allows you to modify nouns. ようだ is predicative, ような is attributive.

  • 立ち止まる - stop, halt, stand still

  • 立ち止まるようだ - is a way similar to stop

  • 立ち止まるような時間 - time in a way similar to stop

  • 立ち止まるような時間はない - do not have time that is in a way similar to stop

  • ここで立ち止まるような時間はない - at here, do not have time that is in a way similar to stop

The above is an extremely crude and literal translation.

It should approximately mean something like, "We/I/you do not have the time to do things like stopping here"

(I feel this answer is limited. It does not compare the difference between 立ち止まる時間 and 立ち止まるような時間 to an extent that I wish I could have done.)

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  • +Upvote for saying you know the difference but can't explain it! Jan 31, 2012 at 8:23
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    On further thinking, I think 立ち止まるような時間 can also mean "time that seems to stand still". It seems to be context dependent whether time is the one stopping or another entity is the one stopping.
    – Flaw
    Jan 31, 2012 at 8:48
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ような here is equivalent to "kind/sort of" in English.

"We don't have the kind of time to stop here."

"We don't have that sort of time."

It expresses that, in order to do this action, we would need to have an entirely different category of amount of time to spend -- in other words, it emphasizes the lack of time more than without ような.

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  • Perfect answer! 様な is best thought of as having two different English translations, depending on context. "In the manner of", and "that sort of". For example: 蟹の様な歩き方だ = walks like a crab. 家を買うような貯金は持ってない = don't have the sort of money needed to buy a house. Feb 3, 2012 at 17:39

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