What are hearsay expressions in Japanese?

You’ll usually use そうだ[sōda] and its polite form そうです[sōdesu] to report information that you think is reliable. It’s most often translated as “I hear that…” or “I’ve heard that…”

そうだ[sōda] follows the plain form of a verb, adjective, or noun + だ[da].

Here five cases where you might want to use そうだ[sōda] rather than another hearsay marker!

• A specific source

  You’ll often use そうだ[sōda] when you would be able to tell someone exactly where you got your information, even though you won’t always mention your source.

  When you’re using そうだ[sōda] you often actually will identify your source!

  • If the source someone official, like media or the authorities, formal-sounding phrases such as 〜によると[ni yoru to] or 〜によれば[ni yoreba] will follow the source.

    ６時のニュースによると、台風が九州に近づいているそうですよ。

    Rokuji no nyūsu ni yoru to, taifū ga Kyūshū ni chikazuite iru sōdesu yo.

    According to the 6 o’clock news, a typhoon is approaching Kyushu.

  • If the source is less official, you might use 〜の話では[no hanashi de wa] or the more casual 〜に聞いたんだけど[ni kiita n da kedo] or 〜から聞いたんだけど[kara kiita n da kedo]

    ジョンに聞いたんだけど、マイクとメアリーが結婚するそうだよ。

    Jon ni kiita n da kedo, Maiku to Mearii ga kekkon suru sōda yo.

    I’ve heard from John that Mike and Mary are getting married.

    → In conversation, そうだ[sōda] is often followed by the sentence-ending particle よ[yo].

• Reliable information

  Use そうだ[sōda] to mark hearsay that you think is reliable. Though you’re acknowledging that your evidence comes from a third-party, so it technically could be wrong, you wouldn’t use this ending if you really doubted what you’d heard.

  • 天気予報によると午後から雨が降るそうだから、傘を持っていくといいよ。

    Tenki yohō ni yoru to gogo kara ame ga furu sōda kara, kasa o motte iku to ii yo.

    According to the weather forecast, it’s going to rain in the afternoon. So you should take your umbrella with you.

  • ❓天気予報によると午後から雨が降るそうだが、たぶん降らないだろう。

    Tenkiyohō ni yoruto gogo kara ame ga furu sōda ga, tabun furanai darō.

    According to the weather forecast, it’ll rain in the afternoon, but it probably won’t.

    → Here, you doubt the weather forecast, maybe it’s nice outside, so you shouldn’t use そうだ[sōda]

  If you have reason to doubt that what you heard is true, it’s better to use a quotation expression like 〜と言っている[to itte iru](says that...) to distance yourself from the information:

  ✅天気予報は午後から雨が降ると言っているが、たぶん降らないだろう。

  Tenkiyohō wa gogo kara ame ga furu to itte iru ga, tabun furanai darō.

  The weather forecast says that it’ll rain in the afternoon, but it probably won’t.

• Confirming with a better source

  Though you can’t someone what they’ve heard using そうだ[sōda], you can use it to confirm information you’ve heard with a more reliable source. To do this, just follow そうだ[sōda] the sentence-ending particle ね[ne] and use a rising intonation.

  • 来年日本へ行くそうですね。➚

    Rainen Nihon e iku sōdesu ne.➚

    I’ve heard that you are going to Japan next year, am I right?

    → You heard it from a third-party, but the person actually traveling is a better source.

  • 妹さんが来年日本へ行くそうだね。➚

    Imōto san ga rainen Nihon e iku sōda ne.➚

    I’ve heard that your younger sister is going to Japan next year, am I right?

    → The sibling of the person traveling is a better source than the person who originally told you.

  Notice, though, that you can’t use そうだ[sōda] to confirm information with your original source. If your listener is the one who originally told you the information, confirm it using other phrases like 〜と言っていましたね[to itte imashita ne?](You said that…, didn’t you?) instead, like the example below:

  • ✅来年日本へ行くと言っていましたね。➚

    Rainen Nihon e iku to itte imashita ne.➚

    You said that you were going to Japan next year, didn’t you?

  • ❌来年日本へ行くそうですね。

    Rainen nihon e iku sōdesu ne.

• Reporting what someone else wants, thinks, or feels

  In Japanese we don’t directly state that someone else wants, thinks or feels. Instead, we state that we’ve heard or been told about what they think.

  ❌チュンさんは中国に帰りたい。

  Chun san wa Chūgoku ni kaeritai.

  Intended: Chun wants to go back to China.

  As a result, you’ll often report that someone else wants something, thinks something, or feels something using そうだ[sōda].

  ✅チュンさんは中国に帰りたいそうだ。

  Chun san wa Chūgoku ni kaeritai sōda.

  I’ve heard Chun wants to go back to China.

  Check out our post on how to say “want” in Japanese to learn other ways to report on other people’s desires.

• Less formal writing

  While そうだ[sōda] can be used to mark hearsay in everyday writing, like in a diary, email, or essay, it’s usually kept out of very formal writing. You won’t often see it used in newspaper articles, academic papers, or business reports.

  To mark hearsay in very formal writing, it’s better to use expressions like 〜という[to iu] or 〜ということだ[to iu koto da].

The hearsay marker らしい[rashii] and its polite form らしいです[rashii desu] are used to mark something you’ve heard that you think is a little less reliable.

Like そうだ[sōda], the hearsay marker らしい[rashii] follows the plain form of a verb, adjective, or noun + だ[da]. It can also follow non-past, past, or negative forms.

Let’s look at some reasons you might use らしい[rashii] rather than another hearsay marker.

• Rumors or an uncertain source

  We use らしい[rashii] to mark information that you’re less certain is actually true. Often this is because you’re not really sure who the original source was.

  • うわさによると、あの選手はドイツのサッカーチームに移るらしい。

    Uwasa ni yoru to, ano senshu wa Doitsu no sakkā chiimu ni utsuru rashii.

    Rumor has it that that player will move to a German soccer team.

  • 小耳に挟んだんだけど、ジョンが辞表を出したらしいよ。

    Komimi ni hasanda n da kedo, Jon ga jihyō o dashita rashii yo.

    I overheard that John turned in his resignation letter.

    → 小耳に挟む[komimi ni hasamu] is an idiomatic phrase that means “to overhear.” Its literal meaning is something like “to catch in a small ear”! 👂

  We should never use it in formal writing.

• Confirming someone else’s hearsay

  You’ll often use らしい[rashii] in a phrase like そうらしいね[sō rashii ne](I’ve heard so too) or its polite version そうらしいですね[sō rashii desu ne] to let the other person know you have also heard the information they have.

  Speaker A:

  加藤さんは独立するそうだよ。

  Katō san wa tokuritsu suru sōda yo.

  I’ve heard that Ms. Kato is starting her own business.

  Speaker B:

  ああ、そうらしいね。

  Ā, sō rashii ne.

  Yeah, I’ve heard so too.

  Tip

  らしい[rashii] can be used either to mark information you’ve heard or to mark information you’ve deduced. Unlike with そうだ[sōda], though, there’s no grammatical difference between the two. You’ll just need to look at the context to determine how they got their information.

  • Hearsay:

    うわさによると、トムは高い所が怖いらしい。

    Uwasa ni yoru to, Tomu wa takai tokoro ga kowai rashii.

    Rumor has it that Tom is afraid of heights.

  • Deduction:

    トムは高い所が怖いらしい。東京タワーに昇ったとき、青い顔をしていた。

    Tomu wa takai tokoro ga kowai rashii. Tōkyō Tawā ni nobotta toki, aoi kao o shite ita.

    It seems that Tom is afraid of heights. He looked green when we went up the Tokyo Tower.

  らしい[rashii] can also be added to a noun to express likeness as in:

  学生らしい服装

  gakusei rashii fukusō

  clothing ideal for students

  lit. student-seeming clothes

The expressions 〜ということだ[to iu koto da] and the related form 〜とのことだ[to no koto da] are used to report reliable information, like そうだ[sōda], but are more formal and objective in tone. They can also be used in negative (“I haven’t heard…”) and past tense (“I had heard…”) forms.

Like the other hearsay expressions we’ve seen, 〜ということだ[to iu koto da] and 〜とのことだ[to no koto da] follow the plain form of a verb, adjective, or noun + だ[da]. The polite versions of these endings are 〜ということです[to iu koto desu] and 〜とのことです[to no koto desu], respectively.

Though these endings are more formal in tone than そうだ[sōda], they are still often used in conversation as well as in writing.

Let’s look at some of the reasons you might use 〜ということだ[to iu koto da] or 〜とのことだ[to no koto da] over one of the other hearsay endings.

• Formal and objective

  〜ということだ[to iu koto da] and 〜とのことだ[to no koto da] sound more formal and objective than そうだ[sōda].

  These endings are most often used to report information from reliable sources like: newspaper articles, media news, eyewitness testimonies, official statements, or government data. However, unlike そうだ[sōda], these endings don’t imply that the speaker endorses the information.

  • 政府関係者によると、総選挙は来年の春ごろになるということだ。

    Seifu kankeisha ni yoru to, sōsenkyo wa raine no haru goro ni naru to iu koto da.

    According to government officials, the general election will take place around next spring.

  • 目撃者の話では、事故当時信号は赤だったとのことです。

    Mokugekisha no hanashi de wa, jiko tōji shingō wa aka datta to no koto desu.

    According to what an eyewitness says, the traffic light was red at the time of the accident.

• Past hearsay

  〜ということだ[ to iu koto da] and 〜とのことだ[to no koto da] can be used in the past tense to talk about what you “had heard” or “once heard.” Usually you’ll use this in a situation where the information probably is no longer true.

  ３時までに配達するということだったのに、５時をすぎても荷物はまだ届かない。

  Sanji made ni haitatsu suru to iu koto datta noni, goji o sugite mo nimotsu wa mada todokanai.

  I was told that they would make a delivery by 3 o’clock, but the package has not yet arrived even though it’s past 5 o’clock.

• Delivering a message

  You’ll sometimes use 〜とのことだ[to no koto da] to deliver someone else’s personal message. For example:

  よろしくとのことです

  yoroshiku to no koto desu

  (someone) sends their best regards / (someone) says hi

Mark the “source” of the message with either から[kara] or が[ga]. You can also specify the “recipient”, marking them with に[ni], but usually this is left out, since the context makes it clear.

The hearsay marker とか[toka] is a bit of a formal-sounding expression, typically used in personal correspondence, like letters and emails. A bit like らしい[rashii], this marks information obtained through the grapevine or through rumor, rather than from a specific source.

Like our other hearsay markers, it follows the plain form of a verb, adjective, or noun + だ[da].

Using とか[toka] makes your information sound a bit vague or uncertain, so it shouldn’t be used to communicate important information like schedule changes in office memos. In these cases, use そうだ[sōda] instead.

• ✅チームミーティングは火曜日に変更になったそうです。

  Chiimu miitingu wa kayōbi ni henkō ni natta sōdesu.

  I’ve heard that the team meeting has been moved to Tuesday.

• ❌チームミーティングは火曜日に変更になったとか。

  Chiimu miitingu wa kayōbi ni henkō ni natta toka.

In casual conversations among friends and family members, you can also use the hearsay marker 〜んだって[ndatte]. This is a shortened version of 〜のだということだ[no da to iu koto da] which literally means “it is said that.”

Like our other hearsay markers, it follows the plain form of a verb, adjective, or noun + だ[da].

So 〜んだって[ndatte] is very often used to confirm information you’ve heard from a third party. In this use, 〜んだって[ndatte] has a rising intonation:

When you are fairly certain your information is correct, but still want to confirm it, you can add the particle ね[ne] after 〜んだって[ndatte]. The intonation does not go up in this case.