Difference using そう with various verb forms?

Question

I'm doing some reviews on Bunpro and I got this sentence:

今晩雨が＿＿＿。

And I knew it wanted the verb 降る, and that it wanted me to use そう.

So I put in ふりそう, and was surprised to see that it actually wanted ふるそう.

I know I've seen the い-ending of verbs with そう as well. What's the difference in meaning between these two constructions?

Does this answer your question? What is the difference between [plain form of verb]～そう and [root of verb]～そう? — aguijonazo, Dec 10 '21 at 17:32
That question doesn't mention the い-stem, just the え-stem. I've not seen something like 降れそう. And I would expect there to be another 行きそう form not mentioned in that question. If any of what I've said in this comment is incorrect, consider my misunderstanding part of the question. In any case, that question doesn't help me. — StrixVaria, Dec 10 '21 at 18:06
That question just happens to ask about a potential verb 行ける, rather than the original verb 行く. That's why it mentions 行けそう, instead of 行きそう. The same difference applies to 行くそう and 行きそう. — aguijonazo, Dec 10 '21 at 19:08

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 12 '21 at 00:55

I believe this is a difference between two grammar points:

Guessing at an outcome using 「～そう」

Expressing hearsay using 「～そうだ」

For verbs, the first is constructed with the stem, and the second is constructed by adding the verb as-is.

1 Answers1