によるとAccording to

Remember that ことによると is a set expression meaning "perhaps"!

Structure

Noun + によると⁽¹⁾
Verb + ところ + によると⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾ によれば

Details

About によると・によれば

によると, a combination of the case marking particle に, the う - Verb よる, and the conjunction particle と, is a phrase that is used to express that something is 'according to (A)', or 'going off (A)'. In these cases, (A) is considered to be the source of some form of information which will be conveyed in the (B) part of the sentence.

This expression will be used after nouns, or with verbs that have been paired with ところ (to indicate the 'place' where the information came from).

In newspapers and in articles, the more formal によりますと variant can also regularly be seen.

However, this structure is not limited to using と, and the same meaning can be conveyed with によれば. This is just よる in its conjunctive form that pairs with the conjunction particle ば.

Caution

Although によると and によれば are largely interchangeable, によると will convey a higher level of 'certainty', or 'reliability' in regard to the source of information. Due to this, によると is more likely to be used when referring to legitimate sources (police, news, etc).

Fun Fact

よる is almost always written in hiragana alone. However, there are several different kanji that can be used to represent this verb. Each of these kanji have slightly different nuances, but they generally all represent the same 'base' meaning. This meaning is that '(B)'s foundation is (A)'. The most common kanji used for よる are as follows:

依(よ)る - (B) depends on (A).

拠(よ)る - (B) extends from (A).

因(よ)る - (B) results from (A).

由(よ)る - (B) is due to (A).

Examples

--:--

天気予報(てんきよほう)によると、明日(あした)は晴(は)れです。

According to the weather forecast, tomorrow will be sunny.

警察(けいさつ)によると、犯人(はんにん)が逃(に)げたそうです。

According to the police, the criminal escaped.

先輩(せんぱい)の話(はなし)によると、あの会社(かいしゃ)はブラック企業(きぎょう)らしい。

According to what my senior said, that company is one of those 'black companies'.

目撃者(もくげきしゃ)によれば、犯人(はんにん)は２０代(にじゅうだい)男性(だんせい)だ。

According to the witness, the criminal is a man in his 20s.

聞(き)くところによれば、彼(かれ)はあの子(こ)が好(す)きみたいだ。

According to what I hear, it seems as though he likes that girl.

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Online
- Additional breakdown and examples
  Kanshudo
- Indicating a source of information using 「によると」
  Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese
- によると
  LearnJapaneseDaily
- によれば
  LearnJapaneseDaily

Offline
- [AIAIJ] An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese
  Page 95
- A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar
  Page 459
- Genki II 2nd Edition
  Page 123
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 274
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によると・によれば – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (17 in total)

mrnoone

English translation:
according to

Noun + によると
Noun + によれば

View on Bunpro
DonChanHype
Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right place to say this, but there is also a によると article on Tae Kim’s site here. You might want to add it to the list of self-study pages!
mrnoone
Thanks for the suggestion!
I have added the link!
DonChanHype
Awesome, thank you very much!
opgjoh
I have noticed that many grammar points can kind of be understood as a combination of word + existing grammar rule. Thinking of those points in this way often helps me remember them more easily.
Does that work here? Does the “よる” have a particular meaning? jisho gives a “to be based on; to come from”-meaning for this よる.
Or can’t this grammar point be “reduced” in this way?

@mrnoone (I hope it’s okay to tag you like this for my dumb questions? )

Thanks in advance!
MrChairman
So everything I’ve read so far indicates there no difference at all between によると and によれば. Is there not even slightest nuance or reason to use one over the other? Is one more commonly used than the other?
mrnoone
Welcome back on community forums, long time no see

It is best to think of them as identical. If I were pushed to name any difference, I would say that によれば is a little bit more formal, but this is my opinion. When it comes to frequency, “によると” is used more often.

I hope it helps,
Cheers!
Daru
Daru
Nevermind! I came up to something interesting, apparently it’s a very common pattern in regards of transferring information. Citing A Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns, page 352:

V-るところによると・よれば
Uses verbs that denote the output or transfer of information, like 聞く・話す・伝える and is followed by a clause that specifies the information has been relayed. The sentence often ends with expressions such as らしい・そうだ・とことだ. Often used in news reports.

Example sentences:
聞くところによれば、あの二人は離婚したそうだ。
According to what I hear, apparently those two are divorced.

特派員の伝えるところによると、アフリカの基金はさらに悪化しているらしい。
What we hear from the special correspondents is that the famine in Africa seems to be getting even worse.

With this in mind, wouldn’t this be an entirely separate grammar point? One that bases off this one.
Haruka
It may be helpful to indicate that this comes from 依る (as far as I can tell from https://kotobank.jp/word/に依ると-351271). The way I then think about it is “if depend on A, then B”, since it matches the conditional form. Is that correct?
mrnoone
@Daru
Hey and sorry for the slow answer

I have fixed the translation and added a note about ところによると for the time being. We will likely split them later

Thank you for the feedback!
Pep95
I was wondering this too.

@Pushindawood, @mrnoone?
nanyaLang
Hi, I noticed that this grammar point is listed as being in Genki II (2nd ed.), but for some reason is not included in the Genki II path, which seems to be an oversight.
Pushindawood
@nanyaLang Thank you for your comment. We chose only to reference Genki in the Readings section as によると only appears as a side note to 〜そうです and is not a standalone, fully fleshed-out grammar point in Genki II. Another reason that によると・によれば does not appear in the Genki II Path is that it is an N3 grammar point with more advanced sentences that include more grammar structures that you may not have come across yet in Genki. Cheers!
Ambo100
A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar: Page 459 によると

Also, the Tae Kim link in the resources section is wrong.
mrnoone
Added and fixed

Thank you for the feedback,
Cheers!
Ambo100
It looks like there are now two links to the same resource.
Daru
It has been fixed! Thank you for pointing it out!