How to Say "It Seems, I Heard" in Japanese?

⭐ In this article, we will learn the expression "Listen to Say" In japanese. It is very simple, we use the word そう (sou) together with です (desu) or another conjugation.

This expression is used when the speaker talks about something he has heard. There is also a more informal way of saying そうです (soudesu) which is そうだ (souda).

そうです is used to express rumors and can mean expressions like:

  • looks like ~
  • hear say that ~
  • people say ~
  • is about to ~
  • be going to ~
  • prone ~
  • almost ~

This expression そう is also used together with adjectives as in the words below:

  • 美味しそう - oishisou - looks yummy
  • 重そう - Omosou - looks heavy
  • 暑そう - atsusou - looks hot
  • 優しそう - yasashisou - looks nice
  • 良さそう - yosasou - looks good

The form そう is also used in verbs, and the expression will depend on the context of the sentence. Let's see how some verbs look like:

  • 泣きそう - naki-sou - cry
  • 来そう - kisou - come
  • 起きそう - okisou - stand up
  • しそう - shisou - Do (する)
  • 落ちそう - (You) will fall
  • 降りそう - furisou - looks like it's going to rain
  • 降らなさそう - furanasasou - looks like it won't rain

Now how are the verbs or adjectives in a sentence? Let's see some examples below:

中に眠りそうだった. I fell asleep in the middle of it. I almost fell asleep during class.
 あの子が泣きそうです。 Ano ko ga naki-sōdesu. This child is crying
 雨が降りそうです。 It's raining outside. It looks like it's going to rain
 もう食べられそう? I think you meant "もう食べられそう?" in Japanese, which translates to "Are you ready to eat now?" in English. Do you think we can eat now?
 ねえ,来られ今日そう? I'm sorry, I can't identify the language you've used. To provide an accurate translation, could you please specify the language of the text? Hey, do you think we can go out today?
 雪が降りそうですね。 It looks like snow is going to fall. It looks like it's going to snow.
 この本は高そうです。 Kono Moto wa taka-sōdesu. This book looks expensive.
 この映画はとてもいいそうだ。 Kono eiga wa totemo ii sou da. Hear that this movie is really good.
 昨日雪が降ったそうです。 It seems like it's going to snow. I heard it snowed yesterday.
 彼女は弁護士だそうだ。 Kanojo wa bengoshi da sou da. I heard she's a lawyer.

If we conjugate そう in the following way, we have different meanings:

  • そうもない - soumonai - Very unlikely
  • そうにもない - sounimonai - improbable, impossible

Examples:

でも、そんなこと、ありそうにもないでしょう?
Demo, son'na ko to, ari-sō ni mo naideshou?
It doesn't seem likely, but does it?

今君は自分で自分を監視できそうにもないよ。
Ima kimi wa jibun de jibun o kanshi deki-sō ni mo nai yo.
You are currently not able to be your own tutor.

Finally, let's remember the famous expression that can sometimes seem sarcastic. そうですか (sou desu ka) that means "And even?".  As we learned the meaning of そう, try to reason for yourself why the そう is in this question, remember why someone asked this question, and draw your own conclusions.

Now that we know the meaning of sou (そう) our sentences get richer, and we can understand much more what the Japanese mean. With just one word, we can understand several expressions and greatly expand our understanding of the Japanese language. Now we have to put it into practice, memorize it, and with time it will be easy to express そう in our conversations.

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