JapaneseJLPT
JLPT N3 grammar · Chapter 15

～とか (hearsay)

Report something you heard with some distance or uncertainty

You’ll be able to mention secondhand information without presenting it as firmly confirmed.

Illustration of the scene described by I heard something like we can eat delicious soft-serve ice cream at a nearby farm.
Read it first

近ちかくの牧場ぼくじょうで美味おいしいソフトクリームが食たべられるとか聞ききました。

chikaku no bokujou de oishii sofuto kuriimu ga taberareru toka kikimashita.

What do you think this sentence means?

I heard something like we can eat delicious soft-serve ice cream at a nearby farm.

Why it means that

Report information with tentative distance

～とか is attached to plain clauses to report secondhand information or rumors with a sense of uncertainty or non-committal distance ("I heard something like...", "they say that...").

Examples

来年らいねん、駅えきの前まえに大おおきな病院びょういんができるとか。

rainen, eki no mae ni ookina byouin ga dekiru toka.

Apparently a big hospital is going up in front of the station next year.

田中たなかさんは風邪かぜだとか言いっていました。

tanaka san wa kaze da toka itte imashita.

Tanaka was saying something about having a cold.

How it is built

Attach とか to a plain clause

Attach とか to plain clauses (verbs, adjectives, noun/な-adjective with だ), frequently followed by 聞きく or 言いう, or placed at sentence-end in casual speech.

plain clause+とか（聞く／言う）
Example

あの店みせは来週らいしゅう閉店へいてんするとか言いっていました。

ano mise wa raishuu heiten suru toka itte imashita.

They were saying something like that store will close next week.

Compare

～そうです vs ～とか

Both pass on what you heard. ～そうです reports it plainly; ～とか keeps some distance, as if you only half remember or are not sure it is true.

  • ～そうです, I hear

    明日あしたは雪ゆきが降ふるそうです。

    ashita wa yuki ga furu sou desu.

    I hear it will snow tomorrow.

    A straightforward report.

  • ～とか, something like

    明日あしたは雪ゆきが降ふるとか。

    ashita wa yuki ga furu toka.

    I heard something like it’s going to snow tomorrow.

    Vaguer; the speaker is not vouching for it.

Examples

鈴木すずきさんは最近さいきん、ギターを習ならい始はじめたとか言いっていました。

suzuki-san wa saikin, gitaa o naraihajimeta toka itte imashita.

Suzuki said something about having started guitar lessons recently.

来年らいねんから、この辺へんのバスの本数ほんすうが減へるとか。

rainen kara, kono hen no basu no honsuu ga heru toka.

I hear there will be fewer buses around here from next year.

あのレストランは予約よやくが三さんか月げつ先さきまでいっぱいだとか聞ききました。

ano resutoran wa yoyaku ga sankagetsu saki made ippai da toka kikimashita.

I heard something about that restaurant being fully booked for the next three months.

7 more examples in the grammar path — free for a limited time.