verb た-form + そう, hearsay or observation?

Question

`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.'

Answer 1

Yes. You are correct.