Get the appGet the app
Japanese frequency list

No. 33 in Japanese

そう

"そう" means "so," "that way," or "like that" depending on context.

In a sentence

  • そうです。

    That's right.

    Here, "そう" is used as an affirmative response, confirming something previously said or asked.

  • 彼の話は本当らしい、そう思った。

    His story seemed true; that's what I thought.

    In this sentence, "そう" is used to introduce one's own thought or impression about the situation.

  • 空が暗くなってきた、雨が降りそうだ。

    The sky is getting dark; it looks like it’s going to rain.

    Here, "そう" is used to express an assumption or prediction about what is likely to occur based on observable evidence.

Hear it in real podcasts

The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “そう” in actual Japanese podcasts.

Find “そう” in podcasts

Learn it from shows you like

LangTurbo plays Japanese podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.

Learning English?

LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into 日本語, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.

Japanese books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).