Please check the example sentences you’re giving in the information section for this one. There’s a big warning to not confuse this form with そうだ, but then most of the example sentences seem to be for that grammar point instead and directly contradict the preceding description.
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That’s not the case, they just end in そうだ or そうです but that doesn’t mean they’re for the other そうだ (I heard…) grammar point.
You can tell the difference by what comes before. This grammar point uses the masu-stem of verbs, or i-adjectives without the い, or na-adjectives as is, plus the exceptions mentioned in the explanation. This grammar point’s そう makes clauses that can essentially be used like na-adjectives themselves, for example 雨が降りそうな空, but of course it can also be used at the end of a sentence. And then it looks a lot like the other そうだ, which is why the warning is there.
The other grammar point basically uses normal sentences in plain form to express that the content of the sentence is hearsay. So it’ll be preceded by verbs or adjectives in the dictionary form, or by a noun or na-adjective followed by the copula だ, and so on.
Which is how I understood it as well, but these are the sentences I’m seeing on the page for this grammar point:
彼女は毎日走るそうだ。
これが正しいそうだ。
あの店員は丁寧だそうだ。
彼は宇宙飛行士だそうだ。
彼はもうイギリスに帰らないそうだ。
明日は朝から雨が降るそうだ。
These are all plain form, no? They even come with translations saying “I heard”.
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Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize you meant the information tab of the grammar point! You wrote example sentences so I thought it was literally the sentences under the “Examples” tab.
You’re absolutely right, the “information” tab is indeed complete nonsense explaining how to use the grammar point and then giving examples for the other one!
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I highly agree to this! I was so confused by the information section. Thanks for pointing it out @Antlershy! This should get fixed soon!
So just to be clear, the そう that uses the stem of the verb is a seems like, looks like kinda thing, and the そうだ that uses the dictionary form of the verb as a “I heard that…” are completely different things, right? Because for some reason, the example sentences provided in N4’s そう section are all actually the the “I heard that…” type.