nemure sō desu

Abgueguen

Abgueguen

Hi everybody

I don't understand the construction in lesson 3.5. To say "it seems i can sleep" they say "nemure sō desu" but I would have expected "nemureru sō desu". What is the construction of sō desu with a verb ?
Thank you

Olivier
toru e

toru e

Hi Abgueguen, this involves a similar grammar point as the 〜すぎる (~sugiru) question in another thread, so I thought I'd post the Tofugu link here too. The 〜そうです (~sō desu) (seems, hearsay)  uses the construction: Verb stem + そうです, so it's:

ねむれる (nemureru) - Potential form of to sleep, to be able to sleep
ねむれます (nemuremasu)- conjugated present, polite form
For ichidan ("ru") verbs, the ーます (-masu) ending is removed to form the stem: ねむれます (nemuremasu)
So the stem is: ねむれ (nemure)

https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/verb-stem-form-conjugation/
Abgueguen

Abgueguen

Thanks a lot Toru

Now I understand. I was not aware that the construction of "sō desu" was either the adjectif on its stem form or the verb on its stem form. Indeed stem form for nemuremasu is nemure therefore "nemure sō desu". Thank you so much again

Olivier
Emma-Rocket-Japanese-Tutor

Emma-Rocket-Japanese-Tutor

こんにちは (Konnichiwa) Abgueguen and toru e,

Thank you for your question! 

Just as toru e says, "seems like" uses the grammar construction そう です (sō desu). 

When you use そう です (sō desu) with the stem of a verb, you can express that something "seems like" or "looks like" it is about to happen. 

To find the stem of a verb, just remove the ます (masu). From there, simply add そう です (sō desu). 

If you need a little practice on verb stems, you can check out this brand new lesson, which explains everything in far more detail!

https://members.rocketlanguages.com/members/japanese/lessons/5044/2-6-making-sentences-with-verbs

The stem of ねむれます (nemuremasu) is ねむれ (nemure), so to say "seems like (I) can sleep," we say ねむれそう です (nemuresō desu). 

When you use the plain form ねむれる (nemureru) with そう です (sō desu), the meaning changes completely! 

When you use a verb in the plain form with そう です (sō desu), you can express "hearsay," or something you have heard from someone.

So, if you said ねむれる そう です (nemureru sō desu), it would mean "apparently (you) can sleep."

It's easy to confuse these two, so be careful with this one!

I hope this helped. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

べんきょう を がんばって ください! (Benkyō o ganbatte kudasai!)
Abgueguen

Abgueguen

Thank you so much for the addition

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