Video summary

Lesson 24: Hearsay and guesses! 〜sou da, 〜sou desu - how they REALLY work.

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas / lessons

  • The helper noun 「sou」 has two major meanings:
    1. Likeness / seeming: “seems like / looks like” (describing appearances or impressions)
    2. Hearsay / reported information: “I heard that…” (reporting information you didn’t directly observe)
  • These can feel confusing because textbooks often present them as separate “connections,” but the video explains that they work differently at the structural level.

1) 「sou」 meaning “like that / seems”

Core rule

  • This 「-sou」 is a suffix-like element attached to an adjectival word to create an adjectival noun meaning “seeming / looking (like).”

How to attach 「-sou」 (detailed steps)

  • Pick a base word that is an adjectival noun (i.e., something that already behaves as an adjective/adjectival noun).
  • Then attach 「-sou」 by modifying the ending of the base as follows:

For da-adjectival nouns

  • Remove the final 「da」 or 「na」, then add 「-sou」
    • (As described in the video: take the “da/na” from the da/na-engine.)

For i-adjectives

  • Remove the final 「-i」, then add 「-sou」
    • (As described: “cut off -i and add -sou.”)

For verbs (to get the “appears about to…” usage)

  • Remove the u-row ending:
    • Ichidan verbs: remove the ending to form the stem, then attach 「-sou」
    • Godan verbs: use the i-stem (the 連用形 / ren’youkei), then attach 「-sou」
  • The resulting meaning is “seems like it’s about to…”

Important constraint

  • You cannot attach -sou to an ordinary noun.
  • You can attach it when the base is an adjectival noun already.
    • Meaning: 「-sou」 turns adjectival nouns into a new adjectival noun expressing “seeming.”

Examples (as given)

Turning adjectival nouns into “seeming” adjectival nouns

  • 「元気だ」(is healthy/lively) → 「元気そうな学生」(a lively/seeming student)
  • 「静かだ」(is quiet) → 「静かな女の子」(a quiet girl)
  • 「静かそうな女の子」(a quiet-seeming / quiet-looking girl)

i-adjectives

  • 「おもしろい」(interesting/amusing) → 「おもしろそう」(seems interesting / seems amusing)
  • 「おいしい」(delicious/tasty) → 「おいしそう」(looks delicious / looks tasty)

Reasoning about Japanese strictness

  • Japanese restricts direct assertions like 「おいしい」 or 「おもしろい」 to cases where you truly know from experience.
  • If you haven’t tasted/experienced it, you should use the “seeming” forms like:
    • 「おいしそう」
    • 「おもしろそう」

“-sou” with verbs: “appears to be about to…”

  • Meaning: “something appears to be about to happen.”

  • Examples:

    • 「雨が降りそうだ」(It looks as if it’s about to rain.)
    • 「子どもが泣きそう」(The child looks as if she’s about to cry / seems as if she’s about to cry.)

  • The video compares this to English patterns like:

    • “It looks like rain”
    • “It seems as if…”

2) 「sou」 meaning “hearsay” (“I heard that…”)

Core rule (structural difference)

  • This is not the same mechanism as the suffix-like -sou above.
  • For hearsay:
    • Use 「〜そうだ」 or 「〜そうです」 after an entire complete sentence.
  • The full clause becomes:
    • Sentence A (main proposition), and
    • 「そうだ / そうです」 acts like sentence B, marking that the information is second-hand.

How it works (detailed structure)

  • Take a complete statement as the content:
    • “X is Y”
  • Then add:
    • 「…そうだ / …そうです」
  • Meaning becomes:
    • “I heard that X is Y” (not your direct observation)

Example given

  • 「サクラは日本人だそうだ」

    • Interpreted as: “I heard that Sakura is Japanese.”

  • Explanation using the video’s labeling:

    • 「サクラは日本人だ」 = Car A (the subordinate proposition)
    • 「そうだ」 = B-engine (the hearsay/what you heard)

Why “そうだ/そうです” marks hearsay (English analogy)

  • The video compares it to English “seems” used to indicate you’ve been told:

    • Question: “Why isn’t that car in the street any more?”
    • Response example:
      • Direct observation: “Some masked people came and drove it away.”
      • Indirect report: “It seems some masked people came and drove it away.”

  • Japanese parallels this idea more systematically with:

    • 「〜そうだ / 〜そうです」

Meaning nuance stated

  • 「〜そうだ / 〜そうです」 after a full sentence means:
    • This is the information I’ve heard / what I have been told, “for what it’s worth.”

Speakers / sources featured

  • Primary speaker / source: The video host/instructor (unnamed in the subtitles; thanks to “Gold Kokeshi patrons” and Patreon supporters)

Original video