Deshou でしょう

でしょう deshou

でしょう (deshou) is normally used to express the speaker's inference or guess from some information he or she has. The sentence patterns are as follow...

Verb plain-form	でしょう
い-adjective plain-form	でしょう
な-adjective plain-form (～だ)	でしょう
Noun plain-form (～だ)	でしょう

Note: For な-adjective & noun, remove the ending だ before でしょう

For example, after looking at the dark sky, you think that it's going to rain. You can say this...

• 空がとても暗いですから、雨が降るでしょう。
  sora ga totemo kurai desu kara, ame ga furu deshou
  
  Meaning: The sky is very dark, it will probably rain.

In fact, でしょう (deshou) is always used in the weather forecast in Japan. When you are listening to the Japanese news next time, take note of whether the Japanese weathercaster has used this Japanese expression.

More Examples

1.	あのレストランの前にはいつも大勢人がいますから、有名 だ でしょう。 ano resutoran no mae niwa itsumo oozei hito ga imasu kara, yuumei da deshou Meaning: There are always many people crowded in front of that restaurant. (Therefore) it might be famous.
2.	マイクさんは十年日本に住んでいましたから、たぶん奥さんは日本人 だ でしょう。 maiku san wa juunen nihon ni sunde imashita kara, tabun okusan wa nihonjin da deshou Meaning: Mike had lived in Japan for ten years. (Therefore) his wife might probably be a Japanese.

Some Points to Note

1. The adverb たぶん (tabun), which means "probably", is used quite often with でしょう (deshou), just like in example 2 above.

2. Sometimes だろう (darou) is used instead of でしょう (deshou), especially for man. And だろう (darou) is also the plain-form of でしょう (deshou).

3. When you are reading the above examples, the intonation for でしょう (deshou) is going down. However, if the intonation is going up, it becomes a question to someone and you are seeking his or her agreement. For example...

• あの人は田中さんでしょう。 ↘(intonation going down)
  ano hito wa tanaka san deshou
  
  Meaning: I guess that person is Ms Tanaka.

• あの人は田中さんでしょう。 ↗(intonation going up)
  ano hito wa tanaka san deshou
  
  Meaning: I guess that person is Ms Tanaka. Is my guess correct?
  (You are guessing that person is Ms Tanaka. But you want to confirm that your guess is correct)