そうだ - Grammar Discussion

Grammar Points
#1

English:
I heard that, it is said that

Structure:
Verb + そうだ
いAdj + そうだ
Noun + だ そうだ
なAdj + だ そうだ

Explanation:
[Hearsay・report of what you have heard]

View on Bunpro

#2

It seems that the “do not confuse” link is not working anymore.

1 Like
#3

It should be working now :+1:

1 Like
#4

Thanks for the quick fix!

2 Likes
#5

The warning says “:warning: Do not confuse with そうだ.” It links to そう, but it says “そうだ”.

1 Like
#6

Hey :grin:

It is because そう can be used with だ、like in this sentence: 先生の仕事は難しそうだ。:+1:

1 Like
#7

This may be slight a difference in translation but the “heard” does give a past tense inflection and I notice all BP entry (and TK’s) use “heard” while the Wasabi entry uses “hear”.

All I can say is that “hear” helps not to put a mistaken だった (which I just did) and the difference in English is so subtle, I can’t think of an example that wouldn’t be interchangeable. Not necessarily recommending to change the examples but it may help someone on the original meaning entry to add it if you agree. Otherwise, I just added a custom note for myself.

#8

Is this always “heard”, as in something someone’s heard from someone else? It sure seems like folks use this whenever they mean “seems that”, as well, which makes the definition in the lesson seem overly specific.

For instance, one of the example sentences given is:

美味しいそうだから、たくさん買った。

But surely 美味しいそう is most often used to mean “seems” or “looks” or “smells” good, not that someone told you it was good.

1 Like
#9

Hey and welcome on community forums :grin:

There are two uses of そう, that differ in meaning and the form of parts of speech that are used.

First one expresses hearsay, used to report what people say, what speaker has heard.

The conjugations go like this:
Verb + そうだ 行くそうだ (I heard that (someone is going)
いAdj + そうだ 美味しいそうだ (I heard that (something) is tasty
Noun + だ そうだ 彼の車だそうだ (I heard that it is his car)
なAdj + だ そうだ 彼の部屋は綺麗だそうだ (I heard that his room is clean)

The other one expresses conjecture, opinion based on incomplete information, usually what we see. In the case of verbs, it is used to describe what is about to happen.

The conjugations go like this:
Verb[stem] + そう + Optional だ (雨が降りそうだ It seems it will rain (because clouds are black, or something like that)
い-Adjective[い] + そう + Optional だ (美味しそうだね It looks delicious, right?)
な-Adjective + そう + Optional だ (宿題は簡単そうだ homework looks easy)

I hope it helps,
Cheers

2 Likes
#10

Thanks!

1 Like
#13

“これは明日のテストに出るそうだ。覚えておこう。”
The second sentence is translated as “I should memorize it.” Isn’t it rather “I shall/will memorize it.”, or am I misunderstanding some grammar?

1 Like
#14

Hey! Extremely late reply, but so that this remains answered if someone else asks:

It’s ておく + Volitional, so in a way its saying: “I should [do the effort preemptively] memorize it”. If it were literally saying that it shall/needs to be remembered, something like 覚えるべきだ、覚えることだ would probably get that meaning across better, but it’s not the intention.

1 Like