Hello.
In conversations for a while I’ve been saying そうなんですか as something like “I see.” This is because every time I have a conversation with a Japanese person or hear “I see” in anime, it is more often than not そうなんですか。But today my Japanese teacher told me to stop saying そうなんですか and just say そうですか instead which is “I see.” Our first-year textbook taught us そうですか, but I was under the impression that そうなんですか is actually what Japanese people say.
So what’s the difference, and is そうですか better?
Thanks!
5 comments
Imma just leave this here. I have the same question
My teacher told me not to say どうですか because it’s masculine
そうなんですか is more like an emphasized “oh, really? and implies either that oh that’s actually new to me or expressing subtle disagreement. A safer I see is probably なるほど。
I was told by a native that そうですか is formal, so she’s probably telling you to use that because she’s your teacher.
そうですか？= “Oh really?”
そうなんですか? = “Oh, *really?*”
Generally, the なん (sometimes shortened to just ん in informal speech…except in this particular case…) is used to denote emphasis. So, the emphasized version of “oh, really?” includes a minor feeling of surprise or disbelief.