JLPT N4 grammar

〜そうmeaning and usage

Meaning

  1. A is spoken by/heard from someone/something else
  2. It looks A; it seems like A

How to form it

  • plain formそうだ
  • verb (masu-stem)そうだ
  • い-adjective stem (without い)/な-adjective (stem)そうだ
  • いい → よさそうだ/ない → なさそうだ

How it is used

After the plain form it reports hearsay: I hear that A. After a verb stem or adjective stem it says how things look: looks A, about to A. Nouns don't take this 'looks' 「そうだ」; use 「ようだ」.

Examples

  1. 聞いた？ レッドソックスは昨日勝ったそうだ！

    Did you hear? (I heard) The Red Sox won yesterday!

  2. 空が暗いですね。雨が降りそうです。

    The sky is dark, isn't it? It looks like it's going to rain.

  3. 天気予報によると、明日は雪だそうです。

    According to the weather forecast, it's going to snow tomorrow.