Below are the 2 forms of similarity expressed for (V) ~nai and (N). Do I summarize these forms correctly?


(negative verb)  ふらなさそうだ
(noun)           かのじょ王女みたい


(negative verb)  ふらないそうだ
(noun)           かのじょ王女だそうだ

Hearsay seems correct, but for self deduction with ～ない and い adjectives you have to remove the trailing い and add さそうだ


Here is a chart showing the comparison between the two (taken from Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar)

Comparison of -souda forms

While it doesn't directly include it in the chart, the negative forms are implicitly included under the い-adjectives. That goes for both ～ない and ～じゃない. The exception to this is いい, which has to be conjugated from the よい form instead - よさそう.

As can be seen from the chart, you were correct to assume you can't use ～そうだ　after nouns. However, i believe 王女みたい　conveys the feeling that even though they look like a 王女 you already know they not. You might use ～だろう　or ～でしょう to say something is probably something else.

かのじょ王女でしょう (She is probably a princess)

Or could use the ～よう form.

かのじょ王女のようだ (She appears to be a princess)


  1. Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
  2. Guide to Japanese - Similarity of Hearsay

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