When you want to say something “looks delicious”, “looks fun”, or “looks like it will rain” in Japanese, you can use the grammar pattern ～そう.

Let’s explore how it works!

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🎯 What is ～そう?

The grammar ～そう is used to express how something appears or seems based on what you see.

Think of it like:

• “It looks…”
• “It seems…”
• “It appears…”

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🍰 Example: “It looks delicious.”

In Japanese:
おいしそう！

Here, you take the i-adjective おいしい (delicious) and change it to おいしそう.

So simple!

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🔧 How to Use ～そう (for appearance)

1. For い-adjectives:

Drop the final い, and add そう.

Japanese	Meaning	Looks like…
おいしい	delicious	おいしそう
たのしい	fun	たのしそう
かなしい	sad	かなしそう

✅ Example:
このケーキ、おいしそうですね。
This cake looks delicious, doesn’t it?

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2. For な-adjectives:

Just drop な and add そう.

Japanese	Meaning	Looks like…
しずかな	quiet	しずかそう
げんきな	healthy/lively	げんきそう
ひまな	free (not busy)	ひまそう

✅ Example:
あの人ひと、ひまそうですね。
That person looks like they’re free (not busy).

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3. For Verbs:

Use the masu-stem (the verb stem from the ます-form), and add そう to say “It looks like [it will happen]”.

Verb	Meaning	Looks like…
ふる	to fall (rain/snow)	ふりそう
こわれる	to break	こわれそう
なく	to cry	なきそう

✅ Example:
雨あめが降ふりそうです。
It looks like it’s going to rain.

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🚫 Be Careful!

Not all adjectives work with ～そう!

Some words like いい (good) become よさそう, not いそう ❌.

✅ Example:
このレストラン、よさそうですね。
This restaurant looks good, doesn’t it?

Also, ～そう used for appearance is different from other uses like when you say “I heard…” (e.g. ～そうです for reported speech). That’s a different grammar!

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💡 Summary

• Use ～そう to describe appearance: “It looks…”
• For い-adjectives: drop い + そう → おいしそう
• For な-adjectives: drop な + そう → しずかそう
• For verbs: stem + そう → 降ふりそう (looks like it’ll rain)
• Remember exceptions like いい → よさそう

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Japanese becomes more fun when you can express what things look like!
Try using ～そう next time you see something yummy, fun, or surprising! 😋✨

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