N3
そうだ
I heard that, It is said that
次の患者さんはひどい事故にあったそうです。
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」.