(no subject)

[kittydesade]

In lesson 13 we discussed the sentence-final expression そうです which means "seemingly." Here we will study another sentence-final　そうです, which presents a "hearsay report." The two　そうです differ not only in their semantics, but also in the forms of predicates they are attached to. [ed. in other words, awhell, this is going to require some review and some brainpower.]

You can add the そうです of report to a sentence ending in the short form.

If you heard someone say 日本語の授業は楽しいです。 You can report it as: 日本語の授業は楽しいそうです。
Our Japanese class is fun. --> I have heard that their Japanese class is fun.

If you heard someone say 先生はとてもしんせつです。 You can report it as:　先生はとてもしんせつだそうです。
Our professor is very kind. --> I have heard that their professor is very kind.

If you heard someone say 今日は授業がありませんでした。 You can report it as:　その日は授業がなかったそうです。
We did not have a class today. --> I have heard that they didn't have a class today.

When we use そうです, the reported speech retains the tense and polarity of the original utterance. We simply turn the predicates into their short forms. (Thus です after a な-adjective or a noun changes to だ, while です after an い adjective is left out.) Compare the paradigms of the two そうです.

		I hear that...	It looks like...
verbs:	話す	話すそうです	--
い-adjectives	さびしい	さびしいそうです	さびしそうです
な-adjectives	すきだ	すきだそうです	すきそうです
noun+です	先生だ	先生だそうです	--

You can also use　そうです to report on things that you have read about in a book or in a newspaper, or have come to know via a broadcast. To specify the information source, you can preface a sentence with the phrase ~によると, as in 新聞によると (according to the newspaper report), and 天気予報によると (according to the weather forecast).


Well, that was... odd. Long Road came much easier tonight, not sure why. Maybe just stepping off the pressure some helped. There's only a certain amount having a deadline helps, and after a while it just sits on my brain and impedes every word.

I'm really exhausted, maybe too exhausted to ponder much about my writing tonight. Did go through, at least, and make up a rough schedule of alternating work. Fanfic and Black Ice during the day because it's the stuff I can work on and be interrupted at any moment. Triumvirate outline expanding and world-building at night, and Long Road. Hopefully Long Road will continue to be more like meditation and dance and less like, um, that analogous ruby scene in Plunkett and Macleane. There might be three of you who will get that, I leave it to the rest of y'all's imaginations.

And so good night unto you all.