Last time we had learned a sentence construction to express a prediction that an incident is about to happen right in the next moment. Since that sentence is to say something is happening, a verb is used. And it was in the form of “Masu-form without ‘masu’”. In today’s sentence construction, not verbs but I- and Na-adjectives are used to express your impression. It is an impression in most of the time obtained from the appearance of what you are talking about. So, it is not a definitive statement, but a kind of a speculation. For example, if you say a definitive statement, it would be like;
1. Ano Jisho wa Iidesu. (That dictionary is good.)
But when you are not one-hundred percent sure, but you think the dictionary seems to be a good one;
2. Ano Jisho wa Yosa soudesu. (That dictionary seems to be good.)
Actually, the sentence 2 is a special one. As the title of this post reads, it would have been “[Stem of I-adjective]+ sou desu.”. But the I-adjective “Ii (good)” turns to be “Yosa soudesu” in today’s sentence construction. We have already learned the special conjugation of the I-adjective “Ii”;
– (WRONG) Ikunai => (RIGHT) Yokunai
– (WRONG) Ikatta => (RIGHT) Yokatta
– (WRONG) Ikereba => (RIGHT) Yokereba
So “I” of “Ii”turns to be “Yo” in several conjugation patterns. But “Yo soudesu” is still not good. It must be “Yosa soudesu”. Likewise, when you use a negative form of an I-adjective for a sentence of “-soudesu.”,
3. Sono Ryouri wa Oishikunasa soudesu. (That food doesn’t look so good.)
The negative form of the I-adjective “Oishii(tasty)” is “Oishikunai”. But “Oishikuna soudesu” isn’t good, it must be “Oishikunasa soudesu.”
<Some other example sentences need to be added, for example a sentence using a Na-adjective>
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 of Section43 in “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
