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N3

そうだ

I heard that, It is said that

次つぎの患者かんじゃさんはひどい事故じこにあったそうです。

I heard that the next patient was in a bad accident.

Explanation

Hearsay 「~そうだ」 means 'I hear that...'. You pass on news you got from other people, newspapers or TV, as it is: 「明日は雨が降るそうだ」 (I hear it'll rain tomorrow). It often goes with 「~によると」. It follows the plain form, and nouns and na-adjectives need 「だ」: 「彼は元気だそうだ」, 「明日は休みだそうだ」.

Mixed up with

Hearsay has no past form: no 「×そうだった」. For a past event, put the first part in the past: 「合格したそうだ」.

Don't confuse it with appearance 「~そうだ」 ('looks like'). That one attaches to the verb stem or adjective stem, and na-adjectives take no 「だ」: 「おいしそうだ」 (looks tasty), 「元気そうだ」 (looks well). Hearsay is 「おいしいそうだ」, 「元気だそうだ」.

For 「いい」: hearsay is 「いいそうだ」, appearance is 「よさそうだ」.

Examples

  1. 先輩せんぱいは明日あしたも仕事しごとだそうだ。

    I heard that senpai will be working tomorrow.

  2. 今晩こんばん雨あめが降ふるそうだ。

    I heard it will rain tonight.

  3. 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.

Tested 4 times in past papers

N3 · Dec 2022, Q56N2 · Dec 2020, Q50N2 · Jul 2019, Q41N2 · Jul 2019, Q48