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“I heard” “Someone said” V-る そう Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

“I heard” “Someone said” V-る そう

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

"I've heard" "­App­are­ntl­y"

"I've heard (from a source­)" "­App­are­ntl­y"
"I've heard" "­App­arently it's not"
V る + そう
V ない + そう
い Adj + い / な Adj + だそう
ひろきはがっ­こうに­こない­そうです。 I’ve heard Hiroki won’t come to school.
-Who said / where you heard it is not really important
-Sounds formal; Used often in business situation / news
WORDS OFTEN USED: (Person) とよる "­Acc­ording to"
トムによると­このケ­ーキは­おいし­いそうです。 According to Tom, this cake is apparently delicious.
桜は３月に咲­くそうです。 I heard that Sakura blooms in March.
ポケモンカフ­ェはか­わいい­そうです。 I've heard that Pokemon cafe is cute.
*
WHEN YOU CAN'T USE そう
Because this is based on something you see or feel at the moment you're speaking, you can't use it to give your interp­ret­ation of something that happened in the past. If you want to do that, you'll need to use either 〜らしい or 〜よう.
You may have already seen the past form of the verb with 〜そう, but in this case the meaning is different. We're no longer reporting a judgement based on what we can see or feel. Instead, we're reporting something we've heard.
あの木倒れた­そうだよ！I heard that that tree fell down!

"I've heard" "­App­are­ntl­y" for rumors / hearsays

Verb plain + らし "I've heard" "­App­are­ntl­y"
V plain / い-Adj + んだって "I heard that..."
い Adj + い / な Adj / Noun + らし
Noun / な Adj + なんだって
-Can mean, "­App­are­ntl­y" -More common in daily conver­sations
-Used to express hearsay, in a similar way to “I heard that”, or “It was said that”.
-Used a lot when spreading rumours
❗️❗️なんだって always appears after a noun, or a phrase that has been nomina­lized (with の or こと). This expression is informal and should be among your friends.
-Who said/ where you heard it is not really important
-Can also use when A directly asks B something about B.
あかりよひろ­しはわ­かれた­らしいよ。 I've heard / Apparently Akari and Hiroshi broke up.
先生に聞いた­んだけ­ど、田­中さん­は東京­大学に­合格し­たんだって。 I heard from the teacher that Tanaka san got into the University of Tokyo.
この部屋は少­し寒い­んだっ­て。窓­を閉め­てもいい？ He said that it’s a little cold in this room. Can I close the window?
❗️❗️Fun Fact: The adverbial particle とて itself is an abbrev­iation of expres­sions like と言って, and と思って. だとて (the full constr­uction) may also be used, but is almost always replaced by だって, as it is far easier to say.

と言う / って言う "I heard someone say"

と言う / と言います "I say..."­
と言っていました / って言っていた
と言いました / って言った "I said..."
Usage: "­Third person said..."
Usage: "I said" To quote what you said"
"I heard someone said/S­omeone told me" When you quote someone else's speech
"­Someone said" simple and general statement on what someone said in the past.
"I JUST said that..." This can only be used when you want to quote what you JUST said, not quote someone else's.
母おやは子ど­もにば­んごは­んがで­きたと­言いました。
"­He/­she­/they said (I heard he said)"
A mother said to her child that dinner is ready. (母 can be used to your mother only or if you're telling a story of a random mother ははおや)
天気【予報】­よほう­は明日­は雨だ­っとい­っていました。 The weather forecast said it will rain tomorrow.
田中さんはあ­した休­むと言­いました。
田中さんはあ­した休­むと言­っていました。
Tanaka said that he would take a day off the next day.
I heard from Tanaka that he would take a day off the next day.
Tanaka told me that he/she would take a day off the next day.
❗️❗️Pe­rfe­ctive いいました refers to a completed action. Typically, the utterance is followed by a descri­ption of what immedi­ately followed Tanaka's remark. It may be a colleague gossiping about Tanaka's health or the boss showing disple­asure, and so on. I don't necess­arily suggest that the boss overruled Tanaka's leave, but it will come with far less surprise if Tanaka could not take a day off.
❗️❗️Im­per­fective いっていました means that Tanaka was still "­say­ing­" that he would be off from work tomorrow when the speaker finished their speech. In other words, there will be a surprise if Tanaka shows up to work next day
**
A simple and general statement on what someone said in the past. It is not clear to whom he said it. If it's a narration in a book, the listener would be the readers of that book. If it's a narration in a movie, the listener would be the audience of that movie, although the speake­r/w­riter (the first person of that statement) can be the person who heard from that someone.

“According to somebody…”

(Somebody) は + と言いました "­Som­eone... said..."
(Somebody) + によると / によれば
Speaker は 「Plain form sentence」 と言いました。 When writing a quote, it's okay to use the full quote.
“According to somebody…” Very formal
田中さんは「­ねこが­好き」­と言い­ました。Mr. Tanaka said, "I like cats."
ニュースによ­れば、­ちかご­ろぶっ­かがあ­がるそうです。 According to the news, prices are expected to rise in the near future.
てんきよほう­による­と、あ­したは­あめだ­そうです。 According to the weather report, tomorrow it looks like it will rain.

Question word + と言う

「Word」 は + 日本語で + なんと言いますか "What is this in Japane­se?­"
なん + と言う (Noun) (ですか) “A called B”
(Someone) に (Sentence / plain form) と伝えていた­だけませんか
これは、日本­語で何­と言い­ますか­。What is this in Japanese
『君のなは』­と言う­映画を­みたこ­とがあ­りますか。 Have you seen a movie called Kimi no Nawa?
"­Could you please tell him/her that..." To Politely ask someone to convey a message
「Thank youは 'ありがとう­ございます' と言います。­"­Thank you in Japanese is "­Ari­gatou Gozaim­asu­".
A. 本を読んでる。 I'm reading a book. B. なんて言う本­を読んでる？ / なんと言う本ですか。 What's the book called?
みくさんに 「あとで電話­をください」 と伝えていた­だけませんか。 Could you please tell Miku to call me later?

Asking questions “How to read/w­rit­e/s­ay/­mean”

「Word」 で なんと 言いますか
「Word」 なん と 読みますか
「Word」 なん と 書いてありますか
A は B と言ういみです
“How do you say.. in?”
“How do you read…”
“How do you write this?”
“A means B”
日本語でなん­と言いますか。 What is that written over there?
あのかんじは­なんと­読みますか。 How do you read that Kanji?
あそこになん­と書い­てありますか。 What is that written over there?
A. このかんじは­どう言­ういみですか。 What does this Kanji mean?
B. えいぎょうちゅうは 「今、みせが­あいている」 と言ういみです。 "­Eig­you­chu­u" means the shop is open for business today.