～によると

～によると attaches to a noun that names a source of information (a weather forecast, the news, a person) and means “according to ...”. It tells the listener where your information comes from.

Because you are passing on someone else's information rather than your own opinion, the sentence very often ends with a hearsay expression such as そうだ or らしい (“I hear that ...”).

Citing the source of information

Put the source first, add によると, and then state what that source says.

In careful speech, the same idea usually closes with そうです to mark the whole statement as reported information.

Compared with ～ようだ: ～によると reports information you got from an outside source, while ～ようだ expresses your own guess from what you can see or sense. If a friend told you it will rain, use 友達によると…そうだ; if you looked at dark clouds yourself, use 雨が降るようだ.

How to form it

Noun (information source) + によると

• 天気予報（てんきよほう）= forecast → 天気予報によると（てんきよほうによると）= according to the forecast
• ニュース = news → ニュースによると = according to the news
• 先生（せんせい）= teacher → 先生によると（せんせいによると）= according to the teacher

Key idea

～によると answers the question “Who says so?”. Name the source, attach によると, and finish with そうだ or らしい to show you are simply passing the information along.