～そうだ (hearsay)

• Reading: そうだ
• Romaji: sou da
• Formation: Verb plain form + そうだ / い-Adj plain form + そうだ / な-Adj + だ + そうだ / Noun + だ + そうだ

Meaning

An auxiliary that indicates the information expressed by the preceding sentence is something the speaker heard from another source. It conveys secondhand information and translates as 'I heard that' or 'they say that.'

The hearsay そうだ attaches to the plain form of verbs, adjectives, and nouns + だ, and reports information the speaker learned from an external source such as news, a friend, or a book. Unlike the appearance そうだ which attaches to stems, hearsay そうだ follows the complete predicate in its plain form. It cannot be inflected — you cannot say そうだった or そうではない. To negate, you negate the preceding clause: 行かないそうだ. This form is similar to って in casual speech, which also marks hearsay. Compared to らしい, そうだ simply relays what was heard without the speaker's personal assessment.

Examples

1. 明日は雨が降るそうだ。 I heard it will rain tomorrow.
2. あの映画はとても面白いそうだ。 I heard that movie is very interesting.
3. 新しい先生は厳しいそうです。 I hear the new teacher is strict.

Usage Guide

Context: spoken, written, everyday

Tone: informative

Do Say

• 田中さんは来週引っ越すそうだ。
• ニュースによると台風が近づいているそうだ。
• あのレストランは予約が取りにくいそうです。

Don't Say

• 明日は雨が降りそうだ。(Using masu-stem makes this the appearance form — for hearsay, use plain form: 降るそうだ) → 明日は雨が降るそうだ。
• 彼は元気そうだと聞いた。(元気そうだ is the appearance form — for hearsay: 元気だそうだ) → 彼は元気だそうだと聞いた。

Origin & History

Hearsay そうだ likely developed from the demonstrative そう ('in that way') combined with だ, grammaticalising into a marker for relayed information during the Edo period.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal