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I have seen both だそう and そう written at the end of a sentence to convey "apparently". Do you use だそう when trying to convey "according to" (によると)?

silvermaple
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ジョセガス
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  • Maybe not quite duplicate, but might help: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5143/1173 – gibbon May 28 '12 at 10:03
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    See also http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/607, http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2729, http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/850 – cypher May 28 '12 at 10:21
  • Is really だそう used as "apparently"? – Gradius Aug 07 '12 at 08:30

1 Answers1

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If the sentence ends in a verb or -い adjective, do not use -だそう. Here's an example:

Nagano has delicious soba: 長野はそばがおいしいです。
I hear Nagano has delicious soba: 長野はそばがおいしいそうです。
According to the travel agency, Nagano has delicious soba：　旅行会社によると、長野はそばがおいしいそうです。

If the sentence ends in a -な adjective or a noun, use -だそう:

Mount Fuji is beautiful: 富士山はきれいです。
I hear Mount Fuji is beautiful: 富士山はきれいだそうです。
According to my sensei, Mount Fuji is beatiful: 先生によると、富士山はきれいだそうです。

The rule is this: take the plain form of the sentence (as if you're speaking informally), and add そうです.

rurouniwallace
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    Worth mentioning is that -そう is also used to mean "seems", but it is constructed differently. When expressing "seems", you use the **stem** of the predicate, as opposed to using the plain form. "彼は親切そうです。" means "He seems nice." Whereas "彼は親切だそうです。" means "I heard he's nice." So unless it's clear from the context, omitting the -だ is not an option. – rurouniwallace Aug 02 '12 at 19:29