Seems / I heard

Stage 4Sentence endings & intentChunk 7 of 27 · items 398–401 of 484

Endings that show where your information comes from: what you see, what you infer, and what you heard. All four share one base sentence.

Mix-ups

-sou is how something looks right now. mitai is the everyday 'seems', from what you see or from what you've heard; rashii and tte clearly mark it as secondhand. Polite hearsay oishii sou desu is easy to confuse with oishisou desu (looks tasty).

-sou

polite -sou desudrama rank #1321*

looks (like it'll be)

〜そうPlay 〜そうですPlay

Says how something looks right now, before you know for sure (oishisou). On verb stems it means something is about to happen (furisou = looks like rain).

casualPlay

kono keeki oishisou

This cake looks delicious.

このケーキおいしそう

politePlay

kono keeki, oishisou desu ne

This cake looks delicious, doesn't it?

このケーキ、おいしそうですね

It attaches to the stem (oishii → oishisou); the irregulars are ii → yosasou and nai → nasasou. It is not for what's plainly visible: a red car is akai, not *akasou. kawaisou means 'poor thing', not 'looks cute'.

Learn alongside: mitai, tte, rashii

mitai

polite mitai desudrama rank #99

seems / looks like

みたいPlay みたいですPlay

Says something seems so, either from what you see yourself (dare mo inai mitai) or from what you've heard (oishii mitai da yo). It is the everyday catch-all; rashii is a bit more detached. It also means 'like a' (kodomo mitai, kodomo mitai na hito).

casualPlay

kono keeki oishii mitai

This cake seems to be good.

このケーキおいしいみたい

politePlay

kono keeki, oishii mitai desu yo

This cake's supposed to be good.

このケーキ、おいしいみたいですよ

No da before it: ame mitai, not *ame da mitai.

Learn alongside: -sou, tte, rashii

tte

polite sou desudrama rank #18*

they say / I heard

ってPlay そうですPlay

Ends a sentence to pass on what someone said or what you heard (ashita ame da tte). It attaches to the plain form and keeps da after nouns.

casualPlay

kono keeki oishii tte

They say this cake is good.

このケーキおいしいって

politePlay

kono keeki, oishii sou desu yo

I hear this cake is good.

このケーキ、おいしいそうですよ

Polite oishii sou desu (I hear it's good) and oishisou desu (it looks good) differ only in the i. Also very common: oishii tte kikimashita (I heard it's good).

Learn alongside: -sou, mitai, rashiiLearn first: -tte iu

rashii

polite rashii desudrama rank #218

apparently / I hear

らしいPlay らしいですPlay

Passes on secondhand information you believe but didn't witness, with a little more distance than mitai or tte. No da after nouns (ame rashii).

casualPlay

kono keeki oishii rashii

Apparently this cake is good.

このケーキおいしいらしい

politePlay

kono keeki wa oishii rashii desu

Apparently this cake is good.

このケーキはおいしいらしいです

Directly after a noun it can instead mean 'typical of' (otokorashii = manly).

Learn alongside: -sou, mitai, tteLearn first: mitai