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

Textbooks make a complicated mess of simple and logical grammar. Surprised? Learn how to use and understand sou-da sou-desu with ease.▼See More ▼

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[charlesmanapat]

I just reviewed this lesson after a year, and I used a different website. It's funny how they have four definitions (or four "different" grammar points) which can just be unified as one. 😅 Textbooks do make simple things very complicated! 😅😅😅

[electronsauce]

I've been burning through these videos! I <3 them so much. This is really helping me understand sentences more. Not only are your descriptions more clear, I feel like you cover more important concepts faster than what I've gone through.

This is a very underrated resource!

[JasonPCochrane]

For the second そうだ I always think of it like tacking 'apparently' on to the beginning of a sentence in English. It has the same function and basic execution.

[ElectricDragonfly]

In anime I've often heard そうだ used alone as a reply. Is this basically taking the first speaker's whole sentence as Øが? As in:
> Sakura (eating a takoyaki) says: (Øが) おいしい！"(This takoyaki) is-delicious!"
> Yume (who hasn't tried it) says: (Øが) そうだ。 roughly meaning "I've heard that." or "So it looks."

[kunslipper]

Thank you so much. I am looking forward to next lesson.

[amarug]

After three days of watching your videos, I have become a Patreon. Work of this high quality simply must be supported, thank you so much, I am making one quantum leap after the other, after I discovered your videos. Just pure condensed awesomeness. I was already totally in love with Japanese grammar from the few bits and bobs that I managed to put together myself after reading "common textbooks" - I guess you can imagine how I feel now! The last time something gave me such a kick, was when I finally managed to clean up a similar mess that surrounds the notion of "tensor" on engineering, math and physics text :)

[sanl]

I'd say reading Tae Kim and then watching all of your videos would give you a very solid understanding of japanese grammar and then you could learn the rest in immersion.

[makishvin]

Excellent explanation! It made everything I studied on そう much more clear. Thank you very much!

[PlazaWave]

Dear Cure Dolly, can I make a suggestion and/or ask a question?

First let me say that the videos are fantastically helpful, and truly succor the long-struggling Japanese learner! Thank you!

One thing...have you digitally manipulated your voice? Artificially raised it or otherwise changed it? What kind of mic are you using? Honestly it’s hard to understand your voice sometimes, especially if you listen on the highway or subway with background noise. Can I suggest a cheap mic that will sound much better? Samson Go mic or Samson Meteorite would make you so much clearer I think! We’d all be happy. Unless it’s the digital modification that is blurring your clarity?

Let me know if any questions. And THANK YOU again for these truly wonderful videos. Keep it up and highest congratulations on building a nice little business growing from your passion :)

[Cardinal]

Do you consider the fact that in the "hearsay" usage of そう、we modify it directly with だ to be an "exceptional" rule to Japanese grammar? It's the only real place where if we have an adjectival noun or regular noun that is modifying some other element, the connecting form is just directly 「だ」and not な or の. One would expect that a sentence like "I hear it is pretty" would be 「きれいなそうだ」and "I hear he's a student" would be 「学生のそうだ」 but instead they're 「きれいだそうだ」and「学生だそうだ」. I've come to simply accept this as an irregularity that must be memorized but I'm curious if you have any insights as to why we don't use any of the standard connecting forms.

[xbounty]

this was a straightforward lesson. easy to follow! :D

Also, how's this sentence?

[sllysushi]

Sensei, can you make a video about further use of が particle? It often be taught that it can also mean as but such as in:
....ですが、.... です。


Or can you explain the expression of すみませんが....?

[WaferCookiez]

Thank you for the lesson ドーリー 先生! But I do have one question. With the word かわいい if we apply the rule with そう we get かわいそう but this doesn't actually mean "seems cute" it means "pitiful". Is this a special case or is there another way to express something seems cute. Anyway, thanks again for doing these lessons they're a big help!

[HyperLuigi]

I’d draw a distinction between seems and having heard something in English. Seems isn’t really used in English if you heard it from somebody else, instead you’d directly say that you heard somebody say it. Instead seems is more used to guess based on the information you have. Maybe you heard somebody give a related fact that might support it, but seems is more for an uninformed guess, or maybe an obvious one to make clear you’re not 100% sure.

It’s funny, そうです／そうだ is often in beginner Japanese classes said to directly mean “it is so.” to clearly and confidently say what was said is correct, which having heard this lesson is hilariously wrong. And it made me wonder “is そう really just the borrowed English word so? それは…違いそう。”

[vinilzord]

Another wonderful lesson, sensei. I got quite lazy with my grammar studies, so do you think I should watch from now on 3-4 lessons per day? And when I'm finished I'll start from lesson 1 to review everything. Thanks in advance :D

[namename]

Dear sensei, there is a rule, that when using そう with negative adjectives( and also for よい) さ shoud be added, like おいしくなさそうだ, Does this rule have some explanation, as replacing last い with さ in adjectives turn then into nouns, and so I'm a bit confused why it should be done in this case as well.
おろしくおねがいします

[NicFlores]

Cure Dolly Sensei, I've been watching the series of the "likeness" videos (sou, rashii, you da) a lot this these days, your explanations are easy to understand but it take some time the get use to it, is quite a lot of information hahaha.

I have a question related to the use of sou in the negative sentences. Why is that when we use negatively, there is a さ that appears in there? Ex. 元気なさそう, そうじゃなさそう　is there a logical explanation?

Thank you in advance

[maximilianstarling]

Hi Cure Dolly.
I have a question. If you can't say "oishisou" unless you tried the food yourself, when can you use it then? Because if you tasted the food, you don't need to add "sou" you can just say "oishii".

[robertfranken]

What about ..さそう？ Also, a few more examples in your videos would help cement your explanations at the point at which the cement is still wet and impressionable.

[TzeJun-psle]

Dolly sensei, it's been a while since I watch this series (because of school :( )
This is my question, そうだ you said the meaning is -I heard, it seems... but I am going to make an argument here. XXと聞いた should be same as the meaning as I heard. So, I thought XXと聞いた would be more closer to the meaning of I heard