Yosasou-na 良さそうな
The phrase yosasou-na 良さそうな is yosasou treated as a na-adjective by adding the na な copula to it.- ii hito
いい人
Good person. - yosasou-na hito
良さそうな人
Person [that] looks like [he's] good.
[Someone who] looks like a good person.
- atama ga ii
頭がいい
"Head is good."
Smart. - atama ga yosasou na hito
頭が良さそうな人
Person [whose] head seems good.
A person [that] seems smart.
- naka ga ii 仲がいい
"Relationship is good."
In good terms. Friends. - naka ga yosasou na kappuru
仲が良さそうなカップル
A couple [whose] relationship seems good.
A couple [that] seems in good terms.
This works because sou is a na-adjective, so any word that has the sou suffix is a na-adjective.
Since yosasou is a na-adjective, it can be conjugated to adverbial form, etc. like one:
- mieru
見える
To be able to see.
To be seen. To appear [in a way]. To be visible. (because someone can see it.) - yoku mieru
よく見える
To see well. (it's very visible.)
[I can] see [that] well.- yoku is the adverbial form of the i-adjective yoi よい.
- yosasou-ni mieru
良さそうに見える
To look like it's good. (you actually saw it, and it "looked good," yosasou.)- yosasou-ni is the adverbial form of the na-adjective yosasou.
Yosou vs. Yosasou
One important thing to note about yosasou is that when adding the sou そう suffix to normal adjectives to say "looks like..." You normally add it to their stem, for example:- warui
悪い
Bad. - warusou
悪そう
Looks bad. - warusou-na hito
悪そうな人
A person [that] looks like [he's] bad.
But because Japanese hates you, yosasou よさそう gets the sou suffix added to its sa-form, yosa よさ, instead of the stem.
- kimochi-ii
気持ちいい
Good-feeling.
Pleasant. - kimochi-yoi
気持ちよい
(same meaning.) - kimochi-yo-sa
気持ちよさ
Good-feeling-ness.
How good it feels. - kimochi-yo-sa-sou
気持ちよさそう
To look like it feels good. - kimochi-yo-sa-sou-na kao
気持ちよさそうな顔
A face [that] looks like [it] feels good.
[He] looks like [he's enjoying himself.] (e.g. his facial expression tells he's enjoying an activity, like singing, watching the clouds, going on a psychopathic murderous rampage, sleeping, dancing, etc.)
This isn't normal: the only other adjective that gets sou そう added to the sa-form instead of the stem is nai 無い. Probably all other i-adjectives get sou added to the stem. It's just yosasou and nasasou that are weird.
- kane ga nai
金がない
Money is nonexistent.
There's no money. To have no money. - kane ga nasasou-na hito
金が無さそうな人
A person [that] looks like [he] has no money.
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