Appearances and Deductions

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Japanese can express very subtle distinctions in appearances and deductions.

As already noted, soudesu indicates supposition.

saburinasanhaoureshikunasasoudesu. "Sabrina seems unhappy."

The connectivity (as previously noted) is:

• ureshisoudesu "seems happy";
• ureshikunasasoudesu "seems unhappy";
• yumeinasoudesu "seems famous";
• odorisoudesu "seems to be dancing".

The sentence ending youdesu indicates surmise based on personal sensory information (what the speaker can see, hear, feel, touch or taste), and that the speaker is not drawing a firm conclusion.

To make things a little more difficult, the connectivity is different:

• ureshiiyoudesu "looks to be happy";
• ureshikunaiyoudesu "looks to be unhappy";
• yumeinayoudesu "looks to be famous";
• odoruyoudesu "looks to be dancing".
• juubakunoyoudesu "looks to be a binding spell". This sentence ending can be used with nouns.

saburinasanhaoureshikunaiyoudesu. "It looks as if Sabrina is unhappy."

A different, but confusingly similar, soudesu indicates hearsay: information which the speaker has obtained from someone else and is passing on unchecked.

To keep things difficult, the connectivity is different again:

• ureshiisoudesu "said to be happy";
• ureshikunaisoudesu "said to be unhappy";
• yumeidasoudesu "said to be famous";
• odorusoudesu "said to be dancing".

saburinasanhaoureshikunaisoudesu. "(According to what I was told), Sabrina is unhappy."

The sentence ending rashiidesu indicates inference based on data.

This time, the connectivity is:

• ureshiirashiidesu "seems happy";
• ureshikunairashiidesu "seems unhappy";
• yumeinarashiidesu "seems famous";
• odorurashiidesu "seems to be dancing";
• juubakunorashiidesu "seems to be a binding spell".

saburinasanhaoureshikunairashiidesu. "(In the circumstances), Sabrina is presumably unhappy."

This sentence form can be wonderfully confusing when combined with the past tense of arimasu:

fukuhaa,tarashiidesu. "(My inference, based on evidence, is that) the clothes existed." This peculiar-sounding inference might be justified if, for example, someone suspected incorrectly that Sabrina had been wearing illusionary clothes. But it is far more likely that the speaker meant to say: fukuhaatarashiidesu. "The clothes are new."

The sentence ending hazudesu indicates that something naturally occurs in the circumstances. The circumstances should either be obvious or stated.

This time, the connectivity is:

• ureshiihazudesu "is naturally happy";
• ureshikunaihazudesu "is naturally unhappy";
• yumeinahazudesu "is naturally famous";
• odoruhazudesu "is naturally dancing";
• juubakunohazudesu "is naturally a binding spell".

saburinasanhaoureshikunaihazudesu. "(In the circumstances), Sabrina is naturally unhappy."