そうに/そうな - Grammar Discussion

@CrisH Hey! You should be seeing these related grammar points at the bottom of every tab of the grammar point’s main page. Please let us know if you are not seeing the Related Grammar section at the bottom of the grammar pages. Cheers!

@ekhill Welcome to the community! Why don’t we take a look at all of the sentences on Bunpro that use a verb after そう(に・な) to see if we can better understand what is going on:

優しそう犬を撫でた。
We use に here because it works as an adverb and modifies the verb (に can also modify adjectives and other adverbs).

Therefore it expresses the manner at which she pets the dog.
やさしそうに 犬を撫でた。[優さしい]
She pet the dog in a way that seemed affectionate.

な would modify the noun itself:
やさしそうな 犬を撫でた。[やさしい]
She pet the kind-looking dog.


彼はわかりやすそう説明したが、まだ理解ができない。
Since 説明した is a verb, に modifies the explaining

わかりやすそう説明した
Explained in a way that was easy to understand.


つまらなそう話って聞きたく ない。

話 (はなし) is a noun and the part of the sentence that is being emphasized by そうな. If you were to place emphasis on the verb (聞きたくない) with そうに, the sentence would sound something like “I don’t want to uninterestingly/boringly listen to the conversation” which sounds a bit strange. You want to express “I don’t want to listen to a boring conversation,” so you would modify 話 with そうな


これが入りそう箱ってある?
Similar to the above sentence, 箱 is a noun and you want to modify the object that you want to put something into (入る).


彼は真面目そう顔をしているが、本当は遊び過ぎ。
If we were to use に here, it would sound like “He is diligenting a face” which sounds really strange. :joy:


本当に起こりそうな夢を見た。
&
昨日またパーティーに行ったの?だから、眠そうな目をしているんだね。
Again, for both of these, we want to modify what we saw, not that we saw and what kind of thing we are doing and not what we are doing.

I hope this helps clear some things up. We try our best to give you hints that lead you in the right direction when you try one over the other. Let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers!

2 Likes

I didn’t even realise there was a related section - sorry about that, and thanks for pointing it out :sweat_smile:

2 Likes

Thanks, I appreciate the explanation!

1 Like

かれまじめそうなかおをしているが、本当ほんとうあそぎ。
Does 「[Adjective]顔をしている」 mean “To look [adjective]”? If so, perhaps this point could include one of those in-sentence links to the grammar point, if there is one for that.

1 Like

For " つまらなそうなはなしってきたくない", I’m wondering what the って does between 話 and 聞き.

I kept putting そうに because my mind saw that って and “Oh, -te form verb” kicked in, but obviously it’s part of the noun, but I’m not sure exactly what it’s doing!

Here, って is marking the topic. There is a grammar point in N3 covering this use.

1 Like

Ah okay - I’m still working through N4, that explains why I didn’t understand - thanks!

1 Like

Hey everyone, I’m having a bit of trouble with a point of grammar in this sentence:
「曇りがどんどん増えて、また雪が 降り出しそうな てんきですね。」 [す]

「降り出しそうな」 is the answer here but I’m not sure where the 「し」comes from after the 「出」。Could someone kindly explain this to me? ありがとうございます!

1 Like

Verb[stem] + そうな + Noun

降り出す振り出します

Verb[stem] = 振り出し

⇒「降り出しそうな」 (ta-da! :slight_smile: )

1 Like

By the way this sentence is still present with confusing N3 grammar point.

これが入りそうな箱ってある

Why can’t you use そうに for nouns? Like noun + そうに + Verb . Because you can use it for [な]Adjectives and Noun + の + よう + だ is possible.