Today I am going to share the homework correction quoted from my JLPT N4 course!
The student’s sentence is not correct. Can you find the mistake?

 

[Student’s sentence]

その子はお母さんに会えて、うれしいそうでした。

*そのこはおかあさんにあえて、うれしいそうでした。

 

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[My correction]

その子はお母さんに会えて、うれしいそうでした。
→その子はお母さんに会えて、うれしそうでした。
The kid seemed happy to see his/her mother.

 

〜そうだ has two meanings. The first is “conjecture,”  and the second is “hearsay”.
The two are made in different ways.

 

If an i-adjective comes before そうだ:
i-adjい＋そうだ：conjecture
うれしい＋そうだ
＝うれしそうだ
(He) seems happy

i-adj＋そうだ：hearsay
うれしい＋そうだ
＝うれしいそうだ
(He) said he is happy.

 

The そうでした(past tense, polite style of そうだ) in your sentence expresses “conjecture”, so remove い from うれしい before そうでした。

 

I hope my explanation helps you. 😊

 

In the JLPT course, all lessons come with homework, if you submit your homework, I will reply with corrections.
I can break down the Japanese grammar and point out mistakes, explaining the structure and nuances of Japanese in an easy-to-understand way.
You can also ask me any questions as much as you want. I will teach you until you get it!