そうだ I heard that, It is said that

Do not confuse with the form of そう used with word stems.

使い方・接続

Verb + そう + だ
［い］Adjective + そう + だ
Noun + だ + そう + だ
［な］Adjective + だ + そう + だ

詳細

使用域
一般

「そうだ」の情報

The auxiliary verb そうだ has two primary functions in Japanese. It can convey one of the following things:

Hearsay: 伝聞(でんぶん) - Highlighting things that have been heard from other people.

Appearance: 様態(ようたい) - Highlighting the way that things 'appear', or 'seem'.

The appearance nuance is covered in another lesson, so we will focus on hearsay in this grammar point. When used to repeat statements that have been heard from other people/sources, そうだ (or そうです) will be paired with the plain form of a verb or い-Adjective, or a noun/な-Adjective followed by だ.

そうだ always implies that the speaker is not 100% certain about the validity of the information that they are conveying. Due to this, it does not sound as confident as other expressions, like ようだ.

Caution

In order to avoid confusion between the そうだ that is used for repeating information, and the そうだ that is used for making observations, the following differences will need to be memorized.

Verbs -

降(ふ)るそうだ - Unaltered verb, そうだ that is repeating information.

降(ふ)りそうだ - Conjunctive form, そうだ that is used for making observations.

い-Adjectives -

寒(さむ)いそうだ - Unaltered adjective, そうだ that is repeating information.

寒(さむ)そうだ - い removed, そうだ that is used for making observations.

Nouns and な-Adjectives -

綺麗(きれい)だそうだ - だ is used before そうだ. This is repeating information.

綺麗(きれい)そうだ - No だ between the な-Adjective and そうだ. This is making an observation.

例文

--:--

美味(おい)しいそうだから、たくさん買(か)った。

I heard they taste good, so I bought a bunch.

トムの彼女(かのじょ)は女優(じょゆう)だそうだ。

I heard that Tom's girlfriend is an actress.

あの方(かた)は親切(しんせつ)だそうです。

I heard that that person is kind.

今晩(こんばん)雨(あめ)が降(ふ)るそうだ。

I heard it will rain tonight.

来週(らいしゅう)から気温(きおん)が下(さ)がるそうだ。

I heard that from next week the temperature is going to drop.

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オンライン
- Expressing Hearsay
  Tae Kim
- そうだ vs. らしい [video]
  Japanese Ammo with Misa
- そうだ: Judgments Based on Other People’s Information
  Wasabi

オフライン
- [AIAIJ] An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese
  Page 74
- [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
  Page 407
- Genki II 1st Edition
  Page 96
- Genki II 2nd Edition
  Page 122
- Marugoto Elementary 2 (A2) Rikai
  Page 130 & 154
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 264
- みんなの日本語 II
  Page 138 [CH 47]
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「そうだ」に関する文法ディスカッション

最近の返信 (合計11件)

mrnoone

English:
I heard that, it is said that

Structure:
Verb + そうだ
いAdj + そうだ
Noun + だ そうだ
なAdj + だ そうだ

Explanation:
[Hearsay・report of what you have heard]

View on Bunpro
airblaster
It seems that the “do not confuse” link is not working anymore.
mrnoone
It should be working now
airblaster
Thanks for the quick fix!
Nenad
The warning says “ Do not confuse with そうだ.” It links to そう, but it says “そうだ”.
mrnoone
Hey

It is because そう can be used with だ、like in this sentence: 先生の仕事は難しそうだ。
s1212z
This may be slight a difference in translation but the “heard” does give a past tense inflection and I notice all BP entry (and TK’s) use “heard” while the Wasabi entry uses “hear”.

All I can say is that “hear” helps not to put a mistaken だった (which I just did) and the difference in English is so subtle, I can’t think of an example that wouldn’t be interchangeable. Not necessarily recommending to change the examples but it may help someone on the original meaning entry to add it if you agree. Otherwise, I just added a custom note for myself.
searls
Is this always “heard”, as in something someone’s heard from someone else? It sure seems like folks use this whenever they mean “seems that”, as well, which makes the definition in the lesson seem overly specific.

For instance, one of the example sentences given is:

美味しいそうだから、たくさん買った。

But surely 美味しいそう is most often used to mean “seems” or “looks” or “smells” good, not that someone told you it was good.
mrnoone
Hey and welcome on community forums

There are two uses of そう, that differ in meaning and the form of parts of speech that are used.

First one expresses hearsay, used to report what people say, what speaker has heard.

The conjugations go like this:
Verb + そうだ 行くそうだ (I heard that (someone is going)
いAdj + そうだ 美味しいそうだ (I heard that (something) is tasty
Noun + だ そうだ 彼の車だそうだ (I heard that it is his car)
なAdj + だ そうだ 彼の部屋は綺麗だそうだ (I heard that his room is clean)

The other one expresses conjecture, opinion based on incomplete information, usually what we see. In the case of verbs, it is used to describe what is about to happe...
searls
Thanks!
testing
“これは明日のテストに出るそうだ。覚えておこう。”
The second sentence is translated as “I should memorize it.” Isn’t it rather “I shall/will memorize it.”, or am I misunderstanding some grammar?
Daru
Hey! Extremely late reply, but so that this remains answered if someone else asks:

It’s ておく + Volitional, so in a way its saying: “I should [do the effort preemptively] memorize it”. If it were literally saying that it shall/needs to be remembered, something like 覚えるべきだ、覚えることだ would probably get that meaning across better, but it’s not the intention.