～そうだ (appearance)

• Reading: そうだ
• Romaji: sou da
• Formation: Verb masu-stem + そうだ / い-Adj stem (drop い) + そうだ / な-Adj stem (drop な) + そうだ

Meaning

An auxiliary adjective that expresses the speaker's conjecture about an imminent event or an apparent quality, based on visual or sensory evidence. It means 'it looks like' or 'it seems.'

そうだ in its appearance/conjecture usage attaches to the verb stem or adjective stem and indicates the speaker's assessment based on what they directly observe. For い-adjectives, the final い is dropped before adding そうだ (おいしそうだ); for な-adjectives, な is dropped (静かそうだ); for verbs, the masu-stem is used (降りそうだ). The two important exceptions are いい which becomes よさそうだ, and ない which becomes なさそうだ. This form is distinct from そうだ (hearsay), which attaches to the plain form and means 'I heard that.' The appearance form cannot be used for facts already confirmed.

Examples

1. このケーキはおいしそうだ。 This cake looks delicious.
2. 空が暗くて雨が降りそうだ。 The sky is dark and it looks like it will rain.
3. あの子は泣きそうな顔をしている。 That child has a face that looks like they're about to cry.

Usage Guide

Context: spoken, written, everyday

Tone: descriptive

Do Say

• この料理は辛そうだから少しだけ食べる。
• 彼は疲れていそうだったので声をかけた。
• 天気がよさそうだから散歩に行こう。

Don't Say

• このケーキはおいしいそうだ。(Keeping い makes it hearsay — drop い for appearance: おいしそうだ) → このケーキはおいしそうだ。
• この部屋はいいそうだ。(いい becomes よさそうだ in the appearance form, not いいそうだ or いそうだ) → この部屋はよさそうだ。
• 彼女はきれいそうだ。(きれい is a な-adjective — drop な, not い: きれいそうだ is actually correct here, but many learners confuse it with dropping い from い-adjectives) → 彼女はきれいそうだ。

Origin & History

This conjecture そうだ developed from the noun 相 (そう, 'appearance') combined with the copula だ, becoming a suffix for expressing how things look based on outward appearance.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal