modality N4 common casualpolitewritten
〜そうだ — looks like ~
〜そうだ ・ そうだ
Meaning
① appearance: looks ~ / seems ~ — a snap judgment from how something appears right now (with adjectives)
② imminent event: looks about to ~ / on the verge of ~ing — with verbs, an event seems just about to happen
Key sentence
① appearance
このケーキ、おいしそう。
This cake looks delicious.
② imminent event
今にも雨が降りそうだ。
It looks like it's about to rain any moment.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| i-adjective / na-adjective | adj-stem (drop い／な) + そうだ | おいし → おいしそう / 元気 → 元気そう |
| verb | V-masu-stem + そうだ | 降り → 降りそう / 落ち → 落ちそう |
Variants
よさそう / なさそう — Irregular stems: いい → よさそう, ない → なさそう (an extra さ is inserted). The adverbial/adnominal forms are そうに・そうな (see 〜そうに・〜そうな).
Examples
① appearance
彼は元気そうだね。
He looks well, doesn't he.
この問題は難しそうだ。
This problem looks difficult.
② imminent event
棚の本が落ちそうだ。
The books on the shelf look about to fall.
ボタンが取れそうだから、付け直そう。
The button looks about to come off, so let me reattach it.
When you can't use it
- Attaches to the **stem**, not the plain form — and that is the whole difference from hearsay そうだ. 降りそうだ (stem) = 'it looks about to rain'; 降るそうだ (plain form) = 'I hear it'll rain.' Watch the attachment.
- Use it for things you can perceive right now. For a reasoned guess from indirect evidence, use ようだ／みたい instead (足音がする。誰か来たようだ, not 来そうだ).
Easily confused with
そうだ (hearsay) The minimal pair: 〜そうだ (appearance) takes the **stem** (おいしそう, 降りそう); 伝聞の そうだ takes the **plain form** (おいしいそう, 降るそう) and reports what you heard. ようだ そうだ = an immediate impression of how something looks now; ようだ = a reasoned inference from evidence. 降りそう = the sky looks like rain; 降ったようだ = the ground is wet, so it must have rained. 〜に見える 〜に見える states what something visually resembles (本物に見える = looks like the real thing); 〜そうだ judges a quality or imminent event (おいしそう = looks tasty).
See 〜そうだ in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜そうだ the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.