そうだ (Hearsay) Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Auxiliary Phrase
Essential Meaning: I heard that / People say that / Word on the street is that / Apparently
Construction:
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + そうだ
- E.g. 話すそうだ [I heard that X speaks]
- E.g. 高いそうだ [I heard that X is expensive]
- (な-Adjective Stem / Noun) + [だ / だった] + そうだ
- E.g. 静かだそうだ [I heard that X is quiet]
- E.g. 先生だそうだ [I heard that X is a teacher]
Notes:
- そうだ (Hearsay) expresses hearsay. With そうだ (Hearsay), the speaker directly conveys information that he or she has obtained from some outside information source without altering it. This information may have been directly provided by a second party, or it may have been inferred or discovered by the speaker.
- E.g. 日本の肉はとても高いそうだ。[I heard that Japanese meat is very expensive.] The implication of this sentence is that the speaker heard that Japan’s meat is expensive from some outside source (e.g. a friend, the news, et cetera).
- The information source may be explicitly indicated with によると [According to].
- E.g. 新聞によるとフロリダに雪が降ったそうだ。[According to the newspaper, it seems that it snowed in Florida.]
- Keep in mind that そうだ (Hearsay) is distinct from そうだ (Conjecture) in terms of both meaning and grammatical construction. The difference in a nutshell is that そうだ (Hearsay) conveys hearsay from an outside source, while そうだ (Conjecture) conveys a judgement based on direct perceptual evidence.
- Examples of そうだ (Hearsay):
- E.g. 話すそうだ。 [I heard that X speaks]
- E.g. 高いそうだ。 [I heard that X is expensive]
- E.g. 静かだそうだ。 [I heard that X is quiet]
- E.g. 先生だそうだ。 [I hear that X is a teacher]
- Example of そうだ (Conjecture):
- E.g. 話しそうだ。 [X appears to be speaking]
- E.g. 高そうだ。 [X is expensive-looking]
- E.g. 静かそうだ。 [X is quiet-looking]
- E.g. 高そうな本。 [X is an expensive-looking book]
- Examples of そうだ (Hearsay):
Example Sentences:
山川さんはフランス語を勉強しているそうだ。[I heard that Yamakawa-san is studying French.]
清水さんはお酒を飲まないそうです。 [I heard that Shimizu-san doesn’t drink liquor.]
利子さんは英語がとても上手だそうです。[I heard that Toshiko-san is very good at English.]
キングさんは英語の先生だそうだ。[I heard that Mr. King is an English teacher.]
WILD Examples:


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