Chapter 9 — Appearance, Hearsay, and Conjecture

Japanese has a remarkably precise system for expressing how you know what you claim to know. English uses vague words like "seems" or "apparently" without clearly distinguishing whether the speaker is reporting what they see, what they heard from someone, what they infer from evidence, or what they expect based on logic. Japanese makes these distinctions grammatically. Each conjecture form encodes a different evidence type, and using the wrong one sounds unnatural or misleading.

This chapter teaches four conjecture expressions — appearance そうだ, ようだ/みたいだ, らしい, and はずだ — and then provides a contrastive summary of the entire conjecture system, including hearsay そうだ from Chapter 8. By the end of this chapter, you will be able to distinguish these forms both in production and comprehension, understanding not just what the speaker is saying but what kind of evidence they are relying on.

9.1 そうだ (Appearance) — Stem + そうだ

Appearance そうだ expresses a judgment based on direct sensory observation — usually visual. It means "it looks like..." or "it seems like..." based on what the speaker can see, feel, or otherwise perceive directly. The speaker is making a prediction or assessment from immediate evidence, not from hearsay or reasoning.

Formation

Appearance そうだ attaches to the stem of the preceding word, not the plain form. This is the key structural difference from hearsay そうだ.

Verbs: Remove ます from the ます-form. Attach そうだ.

い-adjectives: Remove the final い. Attach そうだ.

な-adjectives: Use the stem (the form without な or だ). Attach そうだ.

Negative forms

The negative forms require special attention.

Verbs: Use the ます-stem negative — that is, the ない-form stem. Drop ない, add なさそうだ.

降らなさそうだ — "It doesn't look like it will rain." できなさそうだ — "It doesn't look like I can do it."

い-adjectives: Drop い from the negative form (～くない), add なさそうだ. Alternatively, drop い from the adjective and add そうじゃない / そうにない.

おいしくなさそうだ — "It doesn't look delicious."

The special case of いい/よい: いい becomes よさそうだ (not いそうだ or いいそうだ). The negative is よくなさそうだ.

この 本は よさそうです。 "This book looks good."

The special case of ない: When ない itself is the adjective (meaning "there is none" or "doesn't exist"), it becomes なさそうだ.

時間が なさそうです。 "It looks like there's no time."

Conjugation: そうな and そうに

Appearance そうだ conjugates in two important ways that hearsay そうだ does not:

そうな + noun (adnominal form — modifying a noun):

おいしそうな ケーキ — "a delicious-looking cake" 降りそうな 空 — "a sky that looks like rain" 元気そうな 子ども — "a healthy-looking child" 大変そうな 仕事 — "a job that looks tough"

そうに + verb (adverbial form — modifying a verb):

おいしそうに 食べている — "eating as if it's delicious" 楽しそうに 話している — "talking as if having fun" 寒そうに 歩いている — "walking as if cold" うれしそうに 笑っている — "smiling happily" (lit. "smiling as if happy")

These conjugated forms — そうな and そうに — are extremely common. They are one of the clearest markers that you are dealing with appearance そうだ rather than hearsay そうだ, because hearsay そうだ cannot form そうな or そうに.

Examples

雨が 降りそうです。 "It looks like it's going to rain." (The speaker sees dark clouds.)

この りんごは おいしそうです。 "This apple looks delicious." (The speaker sees a beautiful, red apple.)

あの 人は 疲れていそうです。 "That person looks tired." (The speaker can see it in their face.)

荷物が 重そうですね。手伝いましょうか。 "Your luggage looks heavy. Shall I help?"

もうすぐ 桜が 咲きそうです。 "It looks like the cherry blossoms will bloom soon."

子どもが 泣きそうな 顔を しています。 "The child has a face that looks like it's about to cry."

9.2 ようだ / みたいだ — "It Seems Like" (Based on Evidence)

While appearance そうだ expresses a snap judgment based on direct visual impressions, ようだ and みたいだ express a reasoned judgment based on evidence. The speaker has observed something — a situation, a clue, indirect signs — and is drawing a conclusion. The evidence may be visual, but it can also be auditory, logical, or based on a combination of factors.

Formation of ようだ

ようだ attaches to the plain form, with some modifications for な-adjectives and nouns.

Formation of みたいだ

みたいだ is the casual equivalent of ようだ. It attaches to the plain form, but な-adjectives and nouns do not take な or の before it.

Conjugation

ようだ conjugates like a な-adjective:

• ようだ / ようです (predicate)
• ような + noun (adnominal: "a [noun] that seems like...")
• ように + verb (adverbial: "in a way that seems like...")

みたいだ also conjugates like a な-adjective:

• みたいだ / みたいです (predicate)
• みたいな + noun
• みたいに + verb

Examples

だれも いないようです。 "It seems like nobody is here." (The lights are off, it's quiet.)

田中さんは 風邪を ひいたようです。 "It seems like Tanaka caught a cold." (He's been coughing.)

電車が 遅れているようです。 "It seems like the trains are delayed." (The platform is crowded.)

この 部屋は あまり 使われていないようです。 "This room doesn't seem to be used much." (It's dusty.)

雨が 降ったみたいだね。道が ぬれている。 "Looks like it rained, huh. The road is wet."

田中さん、怒っているみたいだよ。 "Tanaka seems angry."

ようだ / みたいだ as simile — "like"

Both ようだ and みたいだ can also express simile — "like [something]."

あの 人は まるで 子どものようです。 "That person is just like a child."

夢のような 話ですね。 "That's a story like a dream." / "That's a dream-like story."

氷みたいに 冷たい 水 "Water that is cold like ice."

The simile meaning and the conjecture meaning are related: both compare one thing to another. Context determines which meaning is intended.

9.3 らしい — "Apparently" / "-like"

らしい has two distinct uses. The first is a conjecture form meaning "apparently" or "it seems" based on indirect information. The second is a suffix meaning "-like" or "typical of." Both are important and common.

Conjecture らしい — "apparently"

Conjecture らしい expresses information the speaker has gathered indirectly — from reading, hearing, observing secondary evidence, or piecing together clues. It is close in meaning to ようだ but tends to rely more on indirect or secondhand evidence rather than the speaker's own direct observation.

Formation: Attach らしい to the plain form. For な-adjectives and nouns, drop だ before attaching.

Examples:

田中さんは 引っ越したらしいです。 "Apparently Tanaka moved." (I heard something to that effect, or noticed his apartment looks empty.)

あの 店は 来月 閉まるらしい。 "Apparently that store is closing next month."

新しい 先生は 厳しいらしいです。 "The new teacher is apparently strict."

今日は 会議が ないらしい。 "Apparently there's no meeting today."

Conjugation of conjecture らしい

らしい conjugates like an い-adjective:

• らしい (plain non-past)
• らしかった (plain past: "apparently it was...")
• らしいです (polite)
• らしくない (negative: "apparently not...")

Suffix らしい — "-like," "befitting"

When attached directly to a noun, らしい can function as a suffix meaning "typical of" or "befitting." This is a different use from the conjecture meaning.

男らしい — "manly, masculine" 女らしい — "womanly, feminine" 子どもらしい — "childlike" (in a natural, positive sense) 学生らしい — "student-like, befitting a student" 日本らしい — "typically Japanese, characteristically Japanese" 春らしい 天気 — "spring-like weather"

This suffix meaning is complimentary or neutral — it describes something as having the expected, natural qualities of the noun. 子どもらしい means "behaving as a child naturally does" (positive), whereas 子どもっぽい (not yet taught) means "childish" (negative). The distinction matters.

How to distinguish the two らしい

If らしい follows a clause (a verb, an adjective, or a noun with clause-like context), it is the conjecture meaning: "apparently."

田中さんは 来ないらしい。 — "Apparently Tanaka isn't coming." (conjecture)

If らしい follows a bare noun and describes a quality, it is the suffix meaning: "-like."

田中さんは 男らしい。 — "Tanaka is manly." (suffix)

In practice, context makes the distinction clear. A sentence like 春らしい 天気ですね cannot mean "the weather is apparently spring" — it means "the weather is spring-like."

9.4 Contrastive Summary of All Conjecture Forms

This is the most important section of the chapter. Japanese has multiple ways to express "seems," "apparently," or "looks like," and each one encodes a different type of evidence. Mixing them up does not create a grammatical error, but it creates a pragmatic error — the listener will be confused about how you know what you claim to know.

The five forms compared

Parallel examples with 雨 (rain)

雨が 降るそうだ。 (hearsay) "I hear it's going to rain." — Source: someone told me, or I saw a forecast.

雨が 降りそうだ。 (appearance) "It looks like it's going to rain." — Source: I see dark clouds overhead right now.

雨が 降ったようだ。 (inference) "It seems like it rained." — Source: I see wet roads and puddles, so I infer it rained.

雨が 降ったみたいだ。 (inference, casual) "Looks like it rained." — Same as ようだ but more casual.

雨が 降ったらしい。 (indirect report) "Apparently it rained." — Source: I heard or read about it, or inferred from secondhand evidence.

雨が 降るはずだ。 (expectation) "It should rain." — Source: the forecast says so, or the weather pattern makes it logically expected.

Key distinctions

Hearsay そうだ vs. らしい: Both involve secondhand information, but hearsay そうだ explicitly marks information as coming from a specific report ("I hear that..."), while らしい is vaguer — the information could come from multiple indirect sources. In practice, they are often interchangeable, but そうだ sounds more like you are citing a source, while らしい sounds more like you are summarizing what you have gathered.

Appearance そうだ vs. ようだ: Both involve the speaker's own observation, but appearance そうだ is an immediate, surface-level impression ("it looks delicious" from visual appearance), while ようだ involves processing evidence to reach a conclusion ("it seems like it rained" because the ground is wet). Appearance そうだ is perceptual; ようだ is inferential.

ようだ vs. みたいだ: These are essentially the same in meaning. みたいだ is more casual and more common in spoken Japanese. ようだ is more formal and more common in written Japanese. In a polite conversation, either is acceptable.

9.5 はずだ — "Should Be" / "Expected to Be"

はずだ expresses a logical expectation — something the speaker believes should be the case based on knowledge, logic, schedule, or established facts. It is not about sensory evidence or hearsay; it is about what you know to be true or what you have reason to expect.

Formation

はずだ attaches to the plain form, with modifications for な-adjectives and nouns.

Examples

田中さんは もう 来た はずです。 "Tanaka should have arrived by now." (Based on the schedule.)

この 店は 安い はずです。 "This restaurant should be cheap." (Based on what I've read or been told.)

明日は 休みの はずです。 "Tomorrow should be a day off." (Based on the calendar.)

鍵は かばんの 中に ある はずです。 "The key should be in the bag." (That's where I put it.)

もう 届いた はずですが、まだ 届いていません。 "It should have arrived already, but it hasn't."

彼は 日本語が できる はずです。三年 勉強した と 聞きましたから。 "He should be able to speak Japanese. I heard he studied for three years."

はずがない — "there's no way"

The negative form はずがない expresses strong disbelief — "there is no way that..." or "it can't be that..."

そんな はずが ありません。 "That can't be right." / "There's no way."

田中さんが そんな ことを 言った はずが ない。 "There's no way Tanaka said something like that."

この 問題が わからない はずが ないでしょう。簡単ですよ。 "There's no way you can't understand this problem. It's easy."

はずだった — "was supposed to"

The past form はずだった indicates something that was expected but did not happen.

昨日 届く はずだったのに、まだ 届いていません。 "It was supposed to arrive yesterday, but it still hasn't."

十時に 会う はずだったのに、友達が 来ませんでした。 "We were supposed to meet at ten, but my friend didn't come."

9.6 Reading Passage

不思議な 事件

今朝 会社に 来たら、不思議な ことが ありました。

まず、わたしの つくえの 上に 知らない 本が ありました。昨日 帰る 時には なかった はずです。だれかが 置いた ようです。本の 中には メモが はさんで ありました。「これを 読んでください」と 書いてあります。字は 女の 人が 書いたように 見えます。

田中さんに 聞いたら、「昨日の 夜、だれか 会社に 来たらしいよ」と 言いました。田中さんは 夜 遅くまで 残業していた そうです。となりの 部屋から 足音が 聞こえたらしいのですが、だれも いなかった そうです。

本は 日本の 歴史についての 本のようでした。おもしろそうだったので、少し 読んでみました。

昼ごはんの 時、山田さんに その 話を したら、山田さんは うれしそうに 笑いました。「ああ、その 本、わたしが 置いたの。先週 本屋で 見つけた 本なんだけど、すごく おもしろかったから、読んで ほしかったの」と 言いました。

不思議な 事件は 山田さんの しわざだった ようです。でも、本は 本当に おもしろそうなので、週末に 読む つもりです。

Translation

When I came to the office this morning, there was something strange.

First, there was an unknown book on my desk. It should not have been there when I left yesterday. It seems like someone placed it there. Inside the book, a memo had been inserted. It says, "Please read this." The handwriting looks like it was written by a woman.

When I asked Tanaka, he said, "Apparently someone came to the office last night." Tanaka had reportedly been working overtime late. He apparently heard footsteps from the neighboring room, but no one was supposedly there.

The book seemed to be about Japanese history. It looked interesting, so I tried reading a little.

At lunchtime, when I told Yamada about it, Yamada laughed happily. She said, "Oh, I'm the one who put that book there. I found it at a bookstore last week, and it was so interesting that I wanted you to read it."

The mysterious incident appears to have been Yamada's doing. But the book really does look interesting, so I plan to read it over the weekend.

9.7 Vocabulary List