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〜そうだ I heard that (hearsay): Meaning & Examples

sou da · JLPT N4

JLPT N428 textsStudy card

〜そうだ means “I heard that (hearsay)”. It is a JLPT N4 pattern: below are its construction, the nuances that trip learners up, and the sentences where real Japanese writers use it.

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一枚いちまいStudy card

A free one-page study card for 〜そうだ (I heard that (hearsay)), JLPT N4: what it means, how it attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances that trip learners up. Read it right here, or take the PDF or PNG with you. We never ask for an email for this card.

The 〜そうだ study card: one A4 page holding the pattern, its JLPT N4 meaning, the construction rules, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuance notes.
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How 〜そうだ works

The attachment point is what disambiguates it: hearsay そうだ follows a complete plain form, so 雨が降るそうだ means "I heard it will rain." If そうだ instead follows the verb stem (雨が降りそうだ, "it looks like it’s about to rain"), you are reading the appearance meaning. The source of the report is often marked with 〜によると ("according to…").

構文こうぶんConstruction

  • Verb (plain form) + そうだ

    明日は雨が降るそうだ。 — I heard it will rain tomorrow.

  • い-adjective (plain) + そうだ

    あの店のラーメンは安いそうだ。 — I hear that shop’s ramen is cheap.

  • な-adjective / noun + だ + そうだ

    彼は元気だそうだ。 — I hear he is doing well.

  • 〜によると + plain form + そうだ

    天気予報によると、明日は晴れるそうだ。 — According to the forecast, it will be sunny tomorrow.

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

According to the weather forecast, it’s going to snow tomorrow.
I hear the cakes at that shop are really good.
I heard Tanaka is going to study abroad next year.

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

  • It attaches to the full plain form, never the stem. Drop to the stem (降りそうだ) and you have switched to the appearance meaning.
  • な-adjectives and nouns keep だ before hearsay そうだ (元気だそうだ, 学生だそうだ); the appearance version drops it (元気そうだ). The polite form is そうです.
How 〜そうだ differs from similar patterns
  • 〜そうだ — Same surface, different attachment: hearsay follows the complete plain form (降ふるそうだ = "I heard it will rain"), appearance follows the stem (降おりそうだ = "it looks about to rain").
  • 〜らしい — 〜らしい also reports secondhand information but adds the speaker’s own inference; hearsay 〜そうだ is a more direct relay of exactly what was heard or read.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

Report something you heard from a friend or the news using plain form + そうだ — for example, that a new café is opening near your station.

〜そうだ (I heard that (hearsay)) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

— from The Miser God's Inn (N1)

— from The Black Scarf Gang's Evil Hand (N2)

— from The Crow Cat and the Persian Cat (N4)

— from The Long Name (N3)

Appears in 28 of 367 texts in our library.

蔵書ぞうしょThe texts

28 texts in the library use 〜そうだ

Free to read in full. Furigana over every kanji, a dictionary on any word you tap, and an English breakdown of each sentence.

仙人 cover Read 仙人 The Hermit 芥川 竜之介 26 min read · Short Story ねずみさんの失敗 cover Read ねずみさんの失敗 The Mouse's Mistake 村山 籌子 11 min read · Short Story 顎十郎捕物帳 cover Read 顎十郎捕物帳 Agujūrō's Casebook 久生 十蘭 88 min read · Short Story からすねこと　ペルシャねこ cover Read からすねこと　ペルシャねこ The Crow Cat and the Persian Cat 小川 未明 5 min read · Short Story ゴムフウセン cover Read ゴムフウセン The Rubber Balloon 桜間 中庸 5 min read · Short Story 殺生石 cover Read 殺生石 The Killing Stone 楠山 正雄 26 min read · Short Story 木曽の怪物 cover Read 木曽の怪物 The Monster of Kiso 岡本 綺堂 22 min read · Short Story 釘抜藤吉捕物覚書 cover Read 釘抜藤吉捕物覚書 Kuginuki Tokichi's Detective Notes 林 不忘 72 min read · Short Story 吝嗇神の宿 cover Read 吝嗇神の宿 The Miser God's Inn 坂口 安吾 55 min read · Short Story 黒襟飾組の魔手 cover Read 黒襟飾組の魔手 The Black Scarf Gang's Evil Hand 山本 周五郎 102 min read · Short Story 長い名 cover Read 長い名 The Long Name 楠山 正雄 15 min read · Short Story 影を踏まれた女 cover Read 影を踏まれた女 The Woman Whose Shadow Was Stepped On 岡本 綺堂 90 min read · Short Story
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解説かいせつBackground

Where this 〜そうだ explanation comes from

〜そうだ sits at JLPT N4 in the 302-point taxonomy every text in this library is tagged against. Each text is read for the patterns it contains, which is what lets this page list every text that uses 〜そうだ and pull its example sentences out of them.

The example sentences were not written to demonstrate the rule. They are quoted from published Japanese texts in this library (The Miser God's Inn and The Black Scarf Gang's Evil Hand among them), and each one links back to the story it came from, so you can read the sentence where it actually happened.

質問しつもんQuestions

〜そうだ: questions & answers

How do I tell hearsay そうだ apart from appearance そうだ?

Look at what comes right before そうだ. Hearsay attaches to a complete plain form — 降るそうだ, おいしいそうだ mean "I heard…" — while appearance attaches to the verb stem or an adjective with its い dropped: 降りそうだ, おいしそう mean "looks like…". If the word before そうだ could end a sentence on its own, you are reading hearsay.

How do I say "I heard it won’t rain"?

Negate the reported clause, not そうだ: 雨が降らないそうだ. Hearsay そうだ never changes form itself — a shape like 降りそうもない belongs to the appearance meaning, not hearsay.

What is the difference between hearsay 〜そうだ and 〜らしい?

Both pass on secondhand information. 〜そうだ presents it as a direct relay of what you heard or read, often with an explicit source like 〜によると; 〜らしい mixes in your own inference, so it feels a little more hedged — "apparently, it seems."

Is there a printable 〜そうだ cheat sheet?

Yes. A free one-page 〜そうだ (I heard that (hearsay)) study card sits at the top of this page, as both a PDF and a PNG. It carries the JLPT N4 meaning, how the pattern attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances learners get wrong. You do not need an account or an email address to download it.

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