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`Verb る-form + そう` indicates hearsay.

> 帰るそうだ  
> 'I hear he will go home.'  
>  帰らないそうだ [Negative]

`Verb masu stem (i.e. conjunctive form 連用形) + そう` shows information obtained
through the senses, observation:

> 帰りそうだ  
> 'It looks like he will go home.'  
>  帰らなさそう [Negative]

With this, how do you achieve past tense?

For " **hearsay** ", do you say:

> 帰ったそうだ  
> ' I heard he went home.'

Whilst for " **observation** ", do you say:

> 帰りそうだった  
>  'It looked like he went home.'
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2011-08-18T12:44:23.070
2729
2014-08-06T06:49:58.780
2011-08-18T13:11:44.473
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question
grammar
verb た-form + そう, hearsay or observation?
As Lukman pointed out, you got conjugations right. However, I am not sure if
you interpreted 帰りそうだった accurately. In 帰りそうだった, the observation was made
before the person went home. So in English, it is something like “It looked
like he was going to go home.”
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2011-08-18T13:15:17.620
2730
2011-08-18T13:15:17.620
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answer