English translation:
I heard that
rumor has it that
it is said that
it means that
Structure:
Verb + ということだ
Noun + ということだ
Explanation:
[Used to: report of what has been heard (more formal than そうだ), often used with によると/によれば・to explain something・to analyze something]
Added as alternative answer!
I would guess that if you hadn’t put だ then it wouldn’t have been an incorrect answer. Putting だ after らしい is incorrect, as it is with all い adjectives.
@matt_in_mito, thanks for your reply!
Of course, you are right on らしい being an い-adjective. Also, I don’t think I even went through the alternative answers. I will do when the card pops up again.
A follow-up and conclusion : らしい is indeed a “semi-accepted” answer.
Apologies for posting too quickly in the first place 
How about adding とのことだ which is a bit more formal but basically the same?
@Razael
Hey and welcome on the community forums 
I have added とのこと to answers, and a note about it.
Thank you very much for the feedback! 
PS
I think we will have to split the grammar point to ということだ・とのことだ (hearsay) and ということだ (meaning) eventually 
Any difference between ということだ and と言われている?
Quite a few! Taking the above example,
田中さんと山さんは、秘密で付き合っているということだ。
It is said that Tanaka and Yamada are secretly dating (bit gossipy, but whatever 
)
If you were to replace ということだ with といわれている, the nuance would change to be more concrete. This means there are people literally saying that Tanaka and Yamada are at it, rather than an insinuation that there is a rumour that they are at it. Similarly in English too, the expression “they say” is a bit misleading because there is no “they” and they aren’t saying anything, it is used to express hearsay or a rumour.
Hi!
I found this in Shin kanzen master N3 dokkai, it says ~とのことだ is an alternate version of ~ということだ, maybe it could be added too?
Hope it helps!
Could the example “苦しいこともある。でもそれが生きるということだ” also be rephrased as “苦しいこともある。でもそれが生きるといわれていえる” or would the meaning change?
The meaning would change!
By saying という言われていえる you would be saying “To be said, it’s possible to say”, so I’m guessing you probably meant "と言われている” as in “it is said”.
It would change to “but, that is said to be living”. It sounds kind of distant to me, and the meaning definitely goes another other way.
Huge mental gymnastics but, to me, it feels as if some aliens had some humans in a test tube or something and as these humans suffer and strive, the aliens would take notes as in “so that is what they call to be alive”. I know it’s far-fetched, but I hope it helped!
I have a question! what is the difference with とか。 and ということだ。
Isnt とか just I heard
Hey @ShinobiTay !
ということだ is typically used when you have a high degree of certainty.
この魚は全く臭くない。まだ新鮮と言う事だ。In this sentence the speaker is certain that the fish is fresh because it does not smell bad.
とか is used when you have a low degree of certainty.
彼は最近彼女と別れたとか。In this sentence, the speaker is not too sure if this info is accurate.
Due to this, とか and 知らないけど, are used together very often to let the listener know that they are not sure if the information they are spreading is accurate or not ( this is done so that the speaker doesn’t have to take responsibility when it comes out that the information they gave was false) .
明日は日本中で雪が降るとか、知らんけど。‘Apparently it is going to snow all over Japan tomorrow, but who knows (don’t blame me if it doesn’t actually snow)’
Hope that helps!
Thank you that helps a lot!
