Lesson 42
Base 3 + sou desu
Use sou desu after Base 3 for things you've heard, understand to be, rumors, etc. For example:
- Hiru kara ame ga furu sou desu. (I hear it's going to rain in the afternoon.)
- Kayo wa raishuu kara resutoran de baito o hajimeru sou desu. (I heard that Kayo's going to start working part-time at a restaurant next week.)
- Takada-san wa yameru sou desu. (I heard that Mr. Takada's quitting.)
Please remember that sou desu by itself has nothing to do with hearsay. It means "that's right" and often follows hai, as in "Hai, sou desu." (Yes, that's right.)
Word Check
hiru kara: from noon; in the (early) afternoon
resutoran: restaurant (wasei eigo)
baito: a part-time job (This is wasei doitsugo, or Japanese German. The actual word is arubaito, but is usually shortened to baito.) 1
hajimeru: to begin
yameru: to quit a job
(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)
Notes
1. An interesting "culture" exists in the use of work-related words in Japan. While most English speakers who are asked what they did the day before will answer "I worked" if they worked, the Japanese will rarely use the equivalent Japanese verb hataraita. They use a noun geared to their type of job. A full-time employee will use shigoto, meaning "my regular job as a bona fide company employee"; a student will say baito, meaning "my part-time job I'm doing while going to school"; and a housewife will use paato (Japanized part from part-time), which means "the job I do as a part-timer along with being a housewife."
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