Lesson 47
Base 3 + you desu
You desu after Base 3 verbs works like "seems to" in English:
- Mari wa ashita kuru you desu. (It seems that Mary will be coming tomorrow.)
- Sachiko wa Canada ni iku you desu. (It looks like Sachiko is going to Canada.)
- Ken wa piano o hiku koto ga dekiru you desu. (It looks like Ken can play the piano.)
You desu and sou desu (Lesson 42) are similar and sometimes easy to confuse. Simply put, sou desu means you heard, directly or indirectly, that something is or will be, while you desu means you sensed something is or will be, as in:
- Ame ga furu sou desu. (It's going to rain [because the weatherman or someone said so].)
- Ame ga furu you desu. (It's going to rain [because it suddenly got dark outside and you can smell it coming].)
Actually, you desu is not really used that much in informal conversation. In its place you will hear mitai a lot, which is a kind of "catch all" for you desu / sou desu statements. Ame ga furu mitai would be heard often instead of either of the above examples, meaning "it's going to rain" (either because someone said so or because there are signs that it's going to).
I might as well mention here that mitai can also be put after nouns to mean "looks like." If you watch TV or listen to young people talking you will often hear baka mitai, "you look like an idiot."
Although not introduced in the Base 2 group, there is a Base 2 + sou ending which is also very similar to Base 3 + you desu. This is usually used when something looks like it is just about to happen:
- Ame ga furisou. (It looks like it's going to rain.)
- Ano hako ga ochisou. (That box looks like it's about to fall.)
This one is especially easy to confuse with Base 3 + sou desu, so please take care.
Word Check
hiku: to play (the piano or other stringed instrument)
dekiru: to be able to (do something)
mitai: (something) looks like...
baka: idiot, fool
hako: box
ochiru: to fall (objects, not precipitation)
(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)
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