Can みたい refer to a clause in the past?


I was thinking the other day that one of the differences between みたい and そう
(meaning "it seems") is that the first can be bound to a sentence in the past
while the second forces the verb of the sentence to be always in the ます stem.
I think that difference allows みたい to create sentences like "昨日、雨が降ったみたいでした"
meaning "yesterday it seemed like it had rained" (I don't know if the sentence
or translation is right). Is that right?




Yes you can use みたい after the past tense of a verb, but the copula after みたい
does not have to be in the past tense.

> 昨日、雨が降ったみたいです。  
>  (Looking at the ground) It seems like it rained yesterday.
>
> 昨日、雨が降ったみたいでした。  
>  (Recalling the appearance of the ground I saw this morning) It seemed like
> it had rained yesterday.
>
> 雨が降りそうです。  
>  (Looking at the sky) It seems like it's going to rain.
>
> 雨が降りそうでした。  
>  (Recalling the appearance of the sky I saw this morning) It seemed like it
> was going to to rain.

Note the difference of the time of your judgement ("seems" vs "seemed").




Yes you can use みたい after the past tense of a verb, but the copula after みたい
does not have to be in the past tense.

> 昨日、雨が降ったみたいです。  
>  (Looking at the ground) It seems like it rained yesterday.
>
> 昨日、雨が降ったみたいでした。  
>  (Recalling the appearance of the ground I saw this morning) It seemed like
> it had rained yesterday.
>
> 雨が降りそうです。  
>  (Looking at the sky) It seems like it's going to rain.
>
> 雨が降りそうでした。  
>  (Recalling the appearance of the sky I saw this morning) It seemed like it
> was going to to rain.

Note the difference of the time of your judgement ("seems" vs "seemed").

