The 〜そう Adjective

a ridiculously easy guide to: 〜そう

Happy Sunday Japanophiles, Herewith the 13th issue of the Hai Japan Newsletter — your Weekly Dose of Japan!

Today, we’re simply going through some grammar: 🇯🇵 

〜そう(sou) Adjective

そう cool (get it?)

〜そう can be added to adjectives to mark them as speculative, such as おいしそう= "looks delicious"(From Tofugo.com)

Understanding 〜そう in Japanese:

Basic Usage: When you add 〜そう to an adjective or verb in Japanese, it's like saying "looks" or "seems" in English. For example, おいしそう (oishisou) means "looks delicious," based on what you see or have heard.

Good food :)

Forming 〜そう:

  • For い-adjectives, remove the 〜い and add 〜そう:
    おいしい (delicious) + そう = おいしそう (looks delicious)

  • For な-adjectives, just add 〜そう to the end:
    便利 (benri) (convenient) + そう = 便利そう(benris (looks convenient)

Walking out of a convenient store

Negative 〜そう:

  • For negative い-adjectives (ending in 〜くない), add さ before そう:
    おいしくない (not delicious) + さ + そう = おいしくなさそう (looks not delicious)

  • For いい (good), use よさそう(yosasou):
    いい (good) + そう = よさそう (looks good)

  • For negative な-adjectives, add 〜そう to じゃない and use 〜さそう:
    便利じゃない (benri ja nai) (inconvenient) + さ + そう = 便利じゃなさそう(benri ja na sasou) (looks inconvenient)

Those dancing moves are crazy…

By using 〜そう, you can express how things appear or seem based on your observations or information.


Politeness with 〜そう:

“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid - one must also be polite.” - Voltaire

Adding Politeness: In Japanese, you can make your statement more polite by adding です (desu) at the end of a sentence. This applies when using 〜そう as well:

おいしそうです。
It looks delicious.

By adding です, you can express your observations politely in Japanese.

Patterns of Using 〜そう:

That looks so good…

Basic Usage: The simplest way to use 〜そう is by using it alone in a sentence:

おいしそう。
It looks delicious.

Functioning as a な-Adjective: Once attached to a word, 〜そう behaves like a な-adjective. This allows you to use words that normally can't come after い-adjectives. For example, you can add じゃない after おいしそう to say "It doesn’t look delicious":

おいしそうじゃない。
It doesn’t look delicious.

Using 〜そうじゃない instead of 〜なさそう gives a softer and less direct nuance.

Am I the only one who doesn’t like tomatoes?

Adding だ for Emphasis: You can also use だ after an い-adjective with 〜そう to add a stronger nuance:

おいしそうだ!
It looks delicious!

“Delicious!”

Combining with Nouns: Like other な-adjectives, you can attach adjectives in the 〜そう form to the beginning of nouns by adding な:

おいしそうなケーキだね!
That’s a delicious-looking cake!

Who doesn’t like cake???

Turning into an Adverb: You can even turn the 〜そう form into an adverb by adding に:

おいしそうに食べています。(Oishisou ni tabeteimasu)
They look like they’re eating enjoyably.

By understanding these patterns, you can use 〜そう effectively to express how things appear or seem in Japanese.


Using 〜そう for Interpreting Visible Characteristics:

Description: You can use the 〜そう form to describe what you think is a characteristic of something or someone, based on what you can see. It's a way of expressing your opinion or impression about something based on visual information.

Example Sentences:

  • あのアパート、狭そう。(Ano apaato, semasou)
    That apartment looks small.

  • あの人、優しそう。(Ano hito, yasashisou)
    That person looks kind!

She looks kind!

By using 〜そう, you can convey your interpretation of visual cues in Japanese.


Using 〜そう for Interpreting Information:

Description: The 〜そう form can also be used when you're guessing something based on information you've received, even if it's not visual. It's a way to express your assumption or inference about a situation.

Example Sentence:

  • エアコン持ってないの?ええ〜、部屋暑そう。(Eakon mottenai no? Ee~, heya atsusou.)
    You don’t have air conditioning? Wow, your room must get hot.

In this example, you're not actually seeing your friend's room, but imagining what it must be like based on the information they've shared.

Hot room…or maybe just a sunset.


Common Mistakes:

Description: One common mistake is adding 〜そう to an い-adjective without removing the 〜い, like in おいしいそう. This construction isn't about your own interpretation but about reporting what you've heard. So, be careful to keep your い nice and short when expressing your own observations.

Example Sentences:

  • あのケーキ、おいしそうです。(Ano keeki, oishisou desu)
    That cake looks delicious.

  • あのケーキ、おいしいそうです。(Ano keeki, oishii sou desu)
    I've heard that cake is delicious.

This food animation is killing me…

In the first sentence, you're saying the cake looks delicious based on your observation. In the second sentence, you're reporting what you've heard about the cake.

That’s all folks!

Let me know if you enjoyed this simple grammar run-through :)

Have a great Sunday!

That’s all folks!