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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