Indirect Speech Patterns in Japanese

In Brief

Japanese indirect speech normally puts the reported content before the quotation particle と, then adds an expression that shows how the information reached the speaker: ということだ for reported information, とのことだ for a concise formal report, or と伝えられている for something widely reported or handed down. Unlike English, Japanese does not automatically shift a past reporting verb's tense backward; tense and viewpoint are chosen from the situation being described.

Overview

Indirect speech reports what someone said, wrote, announced, or passed on without reproducing the original wording as a direct quotation. The basic machinery is familiar from the A2 quotation pattern: a clause in the plain form is followed by と. At C1, the challenge is no longer merely forming a quotation. It is choosing a reporting expression that accurately signals the source, degree of distance, and register.

English often uses a single frame such as “X said that...” or “according to X....” Japanese offers several ways to package the same information. ということだ can present something one has heard, but it can also mean “that means...,” based on an inference. とのことだ sounds compact and is common in notices, email, workplace communication, and written reports. と伝えられている removes the individual reporter from the foreground and presents information as an established report or tradition.

A further difference from English is backshifting (changing a reported present tense into a past tense after “said”). Japanese has no mechanical rule equivalent to English “She said she was busy.” The tense inside the quoted clause describes when the reported event holds, while words such as “tomorrow,” “here,” and “I” may need to change to fit the current narrator's viewpoint.

How It Works

The shared quotation frame

The reported proposition—a clause that expresses the content being reported—normally uses the plain form before と. Polite です／ます forms are generally not used inside an integrated indirect quotation, although they may be retained when deliberately echoing someone's exact wording.

Content type	Pattern	Example
Verb, non-past	plain verb + と	来週帰国すると…
Verb, past	past plain verb + と	会議を延期したと…
い-adjective	adjective + と	難しいと…
な-adjective	adjective + だ + と	必要だと…
Noun predicate	noun + だ + と	中止だと…

In more formal writing, である can replace だ: 原因は不明であると発表された (“It was announced that the cause was unknown”).

Choosing the reporting pattern

Pattern	Main function	Typical effect
clause + ということだ／ということです	Relays information; can also state a conclusion	Neutral explanation or hearsay; context determines the reading
clause + とのことだ／とのことです	Concisely relays a message or report	Formal, compact, source-conscious
clause + と伝えられている	Presents an established report or transmitted tradition	Impersonal; the original source may be distant or unspecified
source + によると／によれば + report	Explicitly names the source	“According to...”
source's statement + ところによると + report	Refers to what a person said, explained, or announced	“According to what ... said/reported”

ということだ: report or conclusion

For hearsay, ということだ reports information obtained from elsewhere:

• 来月から値上げするということです。 — “The information is that prices will rise next month.”

The same form can summarize a logical consequence:

• 返事がないということは、参加しないということだ。 — “If there is no reply, that means they will not participate.”

A named source or clear context prevents ambiguity: ニュースによると、来月から値上げするということです. In conversation, ってことだ is a casual contraction, but it often favors the “that means” reading unless a hearsay context is already clear.

とのことだ: a compact formal relay

とのことだ compresses ということだ into a report-like formula. It is especially natural when passing on a message from a person or institution:

• 担当者によると、発送は金曜日になるとのことです。

The source may be stated with によると／によれば, or understood from the preceding sentence. とのことです is polite to the listener; the clause before と still normally remains plain.

と伝えられている: established or inherited reporting

伝えられている is the passive-continuative form of 伝える: literally, the information “is being transmitted.” It is useful for news, history, biography, and tradition:

• この寺は八世紀に建てられたと伝えられている。

This wording does not guarantee that the claim is true. It marks the statement as received information and keeps the writer from presenting it as direct personal knowledge. For a one-time announcement by a clearly identified body, と発表された or と報じられた may be more precise.

Marking the source

によると and the slightly more formal によれば follow a noun naming the source: 天気予報によると, 専門家によれば, 報告書によると. They set the frame; they do not by themselves complete the report, so the sentence normally ends with a reporting or judgment expression.

ところによると follows a clause that identifies an act of speaking, investigating, or observing:

• 社長が発表したところによると、計画は中止だそうです。
• 調査したところによると、この地域では人口が増えている。

Here ところ means roughly “what was found/said,” not a physical place. Do not confuse this with Vたところ, which can describe what happened when or after someone did something.

Tense and perspective

Japanese preserves the time relationship intended by the original message rather than applying automatic English-style backshift:

• 彼は「忙しい」と言った。 → 彼は忙しいと言った。
• 彼は「昨日は忙しかった」と言った。 → 彼は前の日は忙しかったと言った。

In the first sentence, 忙しい may still be valid at the time being discussed. If the state is explicitly over, context can motivate 忙しかったと言った. Person and place expressions also follow viewpoint. A speaker's 私, ここ, or 明日 may become 彼／彼女, そこ, or 翌日 when the narrator changes.

Examples in Context

Japanese	English	Note
来月から値上げするということです。	It's said that prices will rise from next month.	Neutral relay; the source is understood from context.
返事がないということは、今回は参加しないということだ。	No reply means that they will not participate this time.	Here ということだ expresses a conclusion, not hearsay.
彼は来週帰国するとのことです。	I understand that he will return home next week.	Polite, concise report.
担当者によると、商品は明日発送されるとのことです。	According to the person in charge, the item will be shipped tomorrow.	Explicit source plus formal relay.
新製品が秋に発売されると伝えられています。	It is reported that a new product will be released in autumn.	Impersonal established report.
この祭りは三百年以上前に始まったと伝えられている。	Tradition holds that this festival began more than 300 years ago.	Information transmitted over time.
社長が発表したところによると、計画は中止です。	According to the president's announcement, the plan is cancelled.	The source is a specific act of announcing.
気象庁によれば、台風は今夜上陸する見込みだ。	According to the Meteorological Agency, the typhoon is expected to make landfall tonight.	によれば is formal; 見込みだ gives the agency's forecast.
報道では、両社はすでに合意したということだ。	According to news reports, the two companies have already reached an agreement.	報道では establishes the information channel.
山田さんから、会議に少し遅れるとの連絡がありました。	We received a message from Ms. Yamada saying that she would be a little late for the meeting.	との can modify a reporting noun such as 連絡.
彼は翌日戻ると説明した。	He explained that he would return the next day.	翌日 reflects the narrator's time perspective.
原因はシステムの設定ミスであると報告された。	It was reported that the cause was a system configuration error.	Formal である before と.

Common Mistakes

Using polite forms inside an ordinary indirect quotation

• Wrong: 彼は来週帰国しますとのことです。
• Right: 彼は来週帰国するとのことです。
• Why: The clause before と normally uses the plain form. The final です makes the whole report polite.

Confusing ということ with とのこと

• Wrong: 計画は中止とことです。
• Right: 計画は中止だということです。 / 計画は中止とのことです。
• Why: とこと is not the standard reporting pattern. Use the full だということです, or the compact formal pattern N + とのことです. With a noun, the compact construction commonly has no だ: 中止とのことです.

Treating ということだ as hearsay in every context

• Wrong interpretation: 電気が消えている。もう帰ったということだ。 = “I heard that they went home.”
• Right interpretation: “The lights are off. That means they have already gone home.”
• Why: ということだ can express either received information or a conclusion. Look for an explicit source and the surrounding logic.

Copying English tense backshift mechanically

• Awkward: 彼は、今も東京に住んでいるのに、東京に住んでいたと言った。
• Better: 彼は東京に住んでいると言った。
• Why: A past reporting verb does not automatically force the embedded Japanese verb into the past. Use past tense only if the reported state itself belongs to the past.

Combining a source marker without a suitable report

• Incomplete: 天気予報によると、明日は雨。
• Better: 天気予報によると、明日は雨だそうです。
• Why: Casual speech may allow a bare ending, but careful prose normally completes the source frame with a prediction, judgment, or reporting form.

Forgetting to shift viewpoint words

• Confusing: 月曜日に彼は「明日ここに来る」と言った。彼は明日ここに来るとのことだった。
• Clear later report: 彼は翌日そこへ行くとのことだった。
• Why: 明日 and ここ are anchored to a speaker and moment. When the report is retold later or elsewhere, choose words that fit the narrator's viewpoint.

Usage Notes

Register matters. In everyday conversation, speakers commonly use って, って言ってた, or hearsay そうだ／そうです: 田中さん、来ないんだって (“I hear Tanaka isn't coming”). とのことです is more at home in a work email, announcement, customer-service exchange, or careful spoken report. と伝えられている is characteristic of news, documentaries, history, and formal exposition.

そうだ overlaps with these patterns but requires care. Plain-form そうだ reports hearsay: 雨が降るそうだ (“I hear it will rain”). A stem or adjective form plus そうだ can instead describe appearance: 雨が降りそうだ (“It looks likely to rain”). とのことだ avoids that particular ambiguity and foregrounds the act of passing on information.

Source choice also suggests evidential distance—that is, how the speaker knows. 先生によると names an external authority; 先生から聞いたところでは explicitly says “from what I heard from the teacher”; と伝えられている leaves a chain of transmission in the background. None of these forms alone proves reliability. They tell the reader where responsibility for the claim lies.

In careful writing, match the reporting verb to the source: an organization 発表する (announces), the media 報じる (reports), a document 記載する (states in writing), and a tradition 伝える (hands down). This is often clearer than using ということだ repeatedly.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Use

との before a reporting noun

との can directly modify a noun associated with communication or evaluation:

• 来月開店するとの知らせ — news that it will open next month
• 問題はないとの見解 — the view that there is no problem
• 出席できないとの返事 — a reply saying that someone cannot attend

This is compact and productive in formal prose. The noun explains what kind of communicative act the quoted content belongs to.

Layered and nested reports

Japanese can nest one report inside another:

• 新聞は、政府が制度を見直す方針だと関係者が述べたと報じた。

This means, roughly, “The newspaper reported that an official said the government planned to review the system.” Grammatically valid nesting can still burden the reader. Repeat the source, divide the sentence, or use punctuation when several と clauses make attribution unclear.

Distance, caution, and authorial responsibility

Passive forms such as とみられている (“is believed/considered”), とされている (“is regarded/stated”), and と報じられている (“is being reported”) are related but not interchangeable. みられている signals an assessment, されている presents a generally accepted classification or claim, and 報じられている points specifically to media reporting. Advanced writing becomes more precise when the predicate identifies whether the sentence is a message, inference, convention, or news report.

Be alert to excessive distance. A string such as 専門家によると、…とみられているとのことだ may be defensible if there truly are several layers of attribution, but often it merely sounds evasive. Keep only the layers needed to show who said what and on what basis.

Practice Tips

1. Build a source ladder. Take one proposition, such as 来月店が閉まる, and report it as a rumor (ということだ), a workplace message (とのことだ), a historical report (と伝えられている), and a sourced statement (会社の発表によると...). Notice how responsibility and register change.
2. Retell messages across time. Write a direct message containing 私, ここ, 今日, and 明日. Report it the next day from another location, changing these words only where the viewpoint requires it. Do not change tense just because the reporting verb is past.
3. Annotate real news. In a short Japanese article, circle each source marker and underline its final reporting predicate. Ask whether the writer is reporting a statement, drawing a conclusion, or presenting an established belief.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Quotation Particle と — provides the basic plain-clause + と structure used by all of these reporting patterns.