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JLPT N4Hearsay & Conjecture

そうだ(hearsay) — I hear that / Reportedly

The 'reporter' function: used to pass along information you heard or read, relayed as received with no personal inference of your own.

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Pro lessonUNIT 58 · HEARSAY & CONJECTURE

Structure · 形

[Sentence in plain form] + そうだ / そうです

Examples · 例文

  • 天気予報によると、明日は雪が降るそうです。

    Tenki yohou ni yoru to, ashita wa yuki ga furu sou desu.

    According to the forecast, it will snow tomorrow.

    雪が降る (plain form) + そうです (I hear that)

  • あのレストランは美味しいそうです。

    Ano resutoran wa oishii sou desu.

    I hear that restaurant is delicious.

    美味しい (plain form) + そうです

  • 田中さんは来ないそうです。

    Tanaka-san wa konai sou desu.

    I hear Tanaka isn't coming.

    来ない (plain form) + そうです

Usage notes · 注意

  • The classic N4 trap: hearsay attaches to the FULL plain form (美味しいそうだ = 'I hear it's tasty'), while appearance そう attaches to the CUT stem (美味しそうだ = 'it looks tasty').
  • Signature anchor: watch for 〜によると ('according to…') at the start — it's the tell-tale partner of hearsay そうだ.
  • Hearsay そうだ has no past form (no ×そうだった); put the tense inside the clause: 降ったそうだ ('I hear it rained').

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones そうだ is tested against.

vsそう (appearance)

Hearsay そうだ follows the full plain form and reports info. Appearance そう follows the stem and states your own visual guess ('looks…').

vsらしい

らしい also relays heard info but lets the speaker add a light judgment of credibility. Hearsay そうだ is a pure, neutral relay of exactly what was said.

vs〜って (casual quote)

って is the casual spoken equivalent of hearsay そうだ (明日雨だって = 'I hear it'll rain tomorrow'), but more informal.

More hearsay & conjecture

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