Sou desu (also known as me no sou desu)

Sou desu (also known as me no sou desu)

This is an easily confused expression used commonly.

そうです (sou desu), also known as 目の"そう" (me no "sou")

This is different from the other expression sou desu, or known as 耳の"そう" (mimi no "sou")

そうです (sou desu) in 耳の"そう" (mimi no "sou") is used to convey the message that you obtained from another information source, either you have heard from someone or you have read it somewhere.

Whereas for そうです (sou desu) in 目の"そう" (me no "sou"), it means "It looks like ~"or "It seems ~". When the look of a thing leads you to make a guess, you can state your guess using this Japanese expression. You make the guess after looking at the appearance of a thing although it has not confirmed for a fact. The "thing" here can also be a person, a place, a scene, etc.

Sentence pattern

Verb (stem of ます form) そうです
い-adj (～い) そうです	(present/affirmative)
い-adj (～い) くなさそうです	(present/negative)
な-adj そうです	(present/affirmative)
な-adj ではなさそうです	(present/negative)

Note: this そうです cannot be used with a noun.

Exception: いい → よさ　ない → なさ

We will discuss about そうです with verbs later. For now, let's concentrate on the そうです with adjectives.

Adjectives present affirmative sentences

For example, you saw a fat lady walking across the street. She looks like a kind person judging from her appearance. How do you describe her using the above sentence patterns?

• あの女の人は親切そうです。 / あの女の人は優しいそうです。
  ano onna no hito wa shinsetsu sou desu / ano onna no hito wa yasashi sou desu
  That lady looks like a kind person.

You don't know about that fat lady and you are just describing her from her appearance. Therefore you can use this Japanese expression sou desu to describe her. However, if that lady is someone whom you know very well and she has a kind heart, you have to say

• あの女の人は親切です。 / あの女の人は優しいです。
  ano onna no hito wa shinsetsu desu / ano onna no hito wa yasashii desu
  That lady is a kind person.

How about her body size? In this case, you cannot say something like ふとっていそうです (futottei sou desu) which means she looks fat literally. Why? Because she is (obviously) fat from her appearance. That's a fact, not a guess. Therefore you cannot use the Japanese expression sou desu sentence pattern here.

Adjective Present Negative Sentences

For example, a new teacher came to your school today. She looks very fierce from her appearance. How do you use the Japanese expression sou desu to describe the new teacher?

• 新しい先生は親切ではなさそうです。 / 新しい先生は優しくなさそうです。
  atarashii sensei wa shinsetsu dewa nasa sou desu / atarashii sensei wa yasashiku nasa sou desu
  The new teacher looks like an unkind (strict) person.

Describing the weather

Assuming that you are looking at the news on the television. The news shows that Hokkaido is currently covered with heavy snow. It looks really cold there. On the other hand, the news also shows that people are swimming at the beach under the hot sun at Okinawa. It looks very hot there. How do you describe these two scenes?

北海道は寒そうです。
hokkaidou wa samu sou desu                                 It seems cold in Hokkaido.

沖縄は暑そうです。
okinawa wa atsu sou desu                                       It seems hot in Okinawa.

Unless you have been to the two places personally and know the weather there, you can only use Japanese expression sou desu sentence pattern.

Describing a place

Assuming that you are looking at the pictures of 2 different towns. Town A looks very quiet and Town B looks very crowded and lively. How do you describe them?

町 A は静かそうです。
machi A wa shizuka sou desu                                 Town A looks like a quiet town.

町 B は賑やかそうです。
machi B wa nigiyaka sou desu                                Town B looks like a lively town.

Using exceptions

There are 2 exceptions where いい has to change to よさそうです and ない has to change to なさそうです.

You have seen in the earlier examples on how to use なさそうです (nasa sou desu). Let's see some examples using よさそうです (yosa sou desu).

Assuming that you have looked at the cover of a book and read some description on the cover. It looks like a good book. How do you describe it?

この本はよさそうです。
kono hon wa yosa sou desu                   This looks like a good book.

Assuming that you are looking at a guy who looks very smart from his appearance and the way he is talking. How do you describe him?

あの人は頭がよさそうです。
ano hito wa atama ga yosa sou desu                    That person looks like a smart guy.

Describing other person’s emotional feelings

When you are describing your own emotional feelings, you can use adjectives like:

嬉しい	ureshii	Happy
悲しい	kanashii	Sad
楽しい	tanoshii	Enjoyable
寂しい	sabishii	Lonely
心配	shinpai	Worry
怖い	kowai	Scary
幸せ	shiawase	Happy/Blessed
つまらない	tsumaranai	Boring

However, in Japanese, when come to describing other person's emotional feelings, you definitely have to describe using the Japanese expression sou desu. The reason is that you can never know how the other person feels, even if the person tells you how he/she feels (he/she may be lying to you). You can only guess judging from his/her expression.

For example when you are describing your friend's emotional feelings using the above adjectives, you may say:

彼は嬉しそうです	kare wa ureshi sou desu	He looks happy
彼は悲しそうです	kare wa kanashi sou desu	He looks sad
彼は楽しそうです	kare wa tanoshi sou desu	He looks like he's enjoying
彼は寂しそうです	kare wa sabishi sou desu	He looks lonely
彼は心配そうです	kare wa shinpai sou desu	He looks worried
彼は怖そうです	kare wa kowa sou desu	He looks scared
彼は幸せそうです	kare wa shiawase sou desu	He looks blessed
彼はつまらなそうです	kare wa tsumarana sou desu	He looks bored

Be careful not to confuse the meaning of 彼はつまらなそうです (kare wa tsumarana sou desu) and the meaning of 彼はつまらないです (kare wa tsumaranai desu). The former means that you are guessing that he feels bored by looking at his expression. The latter means that he is a boring person.

Moreover, つまらない (tsumaranai) is an い-adj (i-adj), not a ない-form of a verb. Therefore you cannot say something like 彼はつまらなさそうです (kare wa tsumaranasa sou desu).

Japanese expression そうです with verbs

For Japanese expression そうです (sou desu) with Verbs, you are guessing what is going to happen soon from what you see. The sentence patterns are as shown below...

Verb (stem of ます form) そうです	(present/affirmative)
Verb (stem of ます form) そうもありません	(present/negative)

For example, if the sky is full of dark clouds and is getting darker, you guess what is going to happen soon by saying...

もうすぐ雨が降りそうです。
mousugu ame ga furi sou desu                               It looks like it's going to rain soon.

What if there is no cloud in the sky and is sunny. There is no sign of raining. How do you guess the weather?

雨が降りそうもありません。
ame ga furi soumo arimasen                                   It looks like it's not going to rain.

If the rain is getting smaller and the sky is getting clearer. You can say...

雨が止みそうです。
ame ga yami sou desu                                               It looks like the rain is going to stop.

But if it's a heavy downpour and there's no sign of the rain stopping, you can then say...

雨が止みそうもありません。
ame ga yami soumo arimasen                                It looks like the rain is not going to stop.

More examples

あの荷物は落ちそうです。
ano nimotsu wa ochi sou desu                               It looks like that luggage is going to fall down.

鞄の紐が切れそうです。
kaban no himo ga kire sou desu                             It looks like the strap of my bag is going to break off.

シャンプーが無くなりそうです。
shanpu- ga nakunari sou desu                                It looks like the shampoo is going to run out.

もうすぐ桜が咲きそうです。
mou sugu sakura ga saki sou desu                        The cherry blossom may soon be in the bloom.

これから寒くなりそうです。
korekara samukunari sou desu                              It seems like it will be getting colder from now on.

In summary, this Japanese expression そうです (sou desu) can be used if you are making a guess from the appearance of the "thing" you are describing. But if you have already known it to be a fact, it cannot be used.