Can ような mean "To make"?

Question

I was reading this tweet, and I could not make sense of the usage of よう here:

"date a person who just makes you forget that you have a cell phone. - 携帯電話を持っているのをついつい忘れてしまうような人と付き合いなさい。"

But for me "携帯電話を忘れてしまうような人" sounds like "A person who forgets his/her phone", I don't see how the "make" nuance is present here. Nor I see how that refers to me and not the other person, unless there was a clear context explicit.

Why not:

携帯電話を持っているのをついつい忘れてしまわせてくれるような人と付き合いなさい

or

携帯電話を持っているのをついつい忘れさせてくれるような人と付き合いなさい

naruto · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-17T16:36:37.640

5

携帯電話を持っているのを忘れてしまうような人 can mean both "a person who is likely to forget the fact that he has a phone" and "a (fascinating) person who makes you forget about your phone". But no one wants to date such a forgetful person, so the latter should be the correct interpretation.

Your attempt, 携帯電話を持っているのをついつい忘れさせてくれるような人と付き合いなさい is correct and "less ambiguous" in a sense, but you should be able to infer the meaning of the original sentence from the context.

If you understand the following, the original sentence is constructed in a similar way.

驚くような話 a surprising story

悲しくなるようなニュース the news that makes me/you sad

文句を言いたくなるような人 (ambiguous) a troublesome person who deserves complaints / a person who wants to complain

edited Jul 17 '18 at 16:36

answered Jul 17 '18 at 16:12

naruto

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“No one wants to date a forgetful person.” isn’t the meaning almost the opposite? “Date someone who makes you forget your phone!”? – Felipe Chaves de Oliveira Jul 17 '18 at 16:16
2

@FelipeOliveira I mean, "date a forgetful person" is an incorrect interpretation. The sentence says "date a person who is so fascinating to the point where you forget about your phone." – naruto Jul 17 '18 at 16:19
Got it. It’s unlikely that someone would recommend you to date such a person, so you can discard as a valid translation right – Felipe Chaves de Oliveira Jul 17 '18 at 16:26
@FelipeOliveira I edited the answer. Hope it's more clear now. – naruto Jul 17 '18 at 16:27

Can ような mean "To make"?

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