Evidence / Source Signal
Evidentiality
Reportative
Inferential
Quotative
How does the speaker know?
advanced
advanced
Speaker stance
Bedeutung
A signal that marks whether information is seen, heard, inferred, assumed, reported, remembered, or generally known.
So erkennst Du es
Ask whether the sentence shows the source of knowledge.
Beispiele
Wörter
apparently|I heard|it seems|they say
Ausdrücke
I heard that|apparently true|it looks like
Satz
Apparently, the train is late.
Visual guide
Basic shape
claim: the train is late
^
evidence layer:
how does speaker know?
I heard / it seems / apparently
Apparently, the train is late.
Compare shape
Evidence choices: seen -> direct I heard -> heard they say -> reported it seems -> inferred apparently -> indirect
Sprachansicht
In deiner Sprache
German (standard)
Ausprägung
weak
Bedeutung
German has reportative-like uses of sollen/wollen, but no broad obligatory evidential system.
Er soll krank sein.
He is said to be sick.
In deiner Lernsprache
Japanese
Ausprägung
medium
Schwierigkeit
Japanese has useful hearsay and inference markers, though not a mandatory evidential system.
電車が遅れているそうです。
I hear that the train is late.
Typische Lernhürde
Learners may confuse そうだ for hearsay with そうだ for appearance.
New in your learning language
This block is more central in your learning language. Give it extra focus in examples and practice.