I heard that, they say that

Plain form plus そうだ reports information from another source without changing it. The source is often given with によると. Unlike the appearance そう, this attaches to the full plain form: 降るそうだ versus 降りそうだ.

Examples

• 天気予報てんきよほうによると、明日あすは雪ゆきが降ふるそうです。

  Tenki yohou ni yoru to, ashita wa yuki ga furu sou desu.

  According to the weather forecast, it will snow tomorrow.

• 田中たなかさんは来月らいげつ結婚けっこんするそうです。

  Tanaka-san wa raigetsu kekkon suru sou desu.

  I hear Tanaka-san is getting married next month.

Vocabulary in these examples

• 天気予報 weather forecast
• 明日 tomorrow
• 雪 snow
• 降る to fall (rain, snow)
• 来月 next month
• する to do

Related patterns · Appearance, hearsay, and conjecture

• 〜そうだ（様態） looks like, seems about to
• 〜ようだ it seems that, it appears that
• 〜らしい apparently, it seems (based on what one heard)
• 〜みたいだ seems like, looks like, is like
• 〜がる / 〜がっている to show signs of (another person's feeling)
• 〜かもしれない might, may, possibly