Grammar › Adjectives
〜そう — “looks like / seems” (appearance)
Judging by looks: おいしそう looks delicious, 降りそう looks like rain
Adjective/verb stem + そう reports what something looks like from direct impression: おいしそう (looks tasty — before tasting), 雨が降りそう (looks like it'll rain). It's your eyes talking, so use it for guesses based on appearance.
How to form it
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| い-adj (drop い) + そう | おいしい → おいしそう — looks tasty |
| な-adj + そう | 元気 → 元気そう — looks well |
| Verb stem + そう | 降る → 降りそう — looks about to fall/rain |
Example sentences
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| このケーキ、おいしそう! | このけーき、おいしそう! konoke-ki、oishisou! | This cake looks delicious! |
| 空が暗い。雨が降りそうだ。 | そらがくらい。あめがふりそうだ。 soragakurai。amegafurisouda。 | The sky is dark. It looks like rain. |
| 彼は忙しそうですね。 | かれはいそがしそうですね。 karehaisogashisoudesune。 | He looks busy, doesn't he? |
🔊 Tap any Japanese sentence to hear it; kanji link to their study pages.
Watch out
Two traps: いい → よさそう and ない → なさそう (irregular). And appearance-そう differs from hearsay-そう (聞いた話): 雨が降りそう (looks like rain, from the sky) vs 雨が降るそう (I heard it'll rain). The attach point differs — stem vs plain form.