Two in ten adventurers die of poison with 〜そうだ
Grammar Explanation: Hearsay with 〜そうだ
After a villager warns that the area is full of poisonous creatures, Stark gets bitten anyway. Frieren doesn’t recognize the poison and can’t treat it, so Fern and Frieren fly him back to the village. Stark insists he’s fine, since his master always said you can beat poison with guts. Frieren recalls that Eisen once shrugged off an arrow poisonous enough to knock out a dragon, which left Heiter appalled. Fern remarks that if Heiter was appalled, Eisen is the strange one.
- フェルン:
- 「ハイター様の話によると冒険者の死因の二割は毒だそうです。」
- 「急ぎましょう。」
- “I heard from Lord Heiter that two in ten adventurers who die are killed by poison.”
- “Let's hurry.”
Key Points
- そうです after a complete plain-form clause means “I hear that…” or “they say that…”. Fern is passing on a fact from Heiter, not her own guess.
- With a noun, だ stays before そう: 毒だそうです. The clause 冒険者の死因の二割は毒だ, “two in ten adventurer deaths are from poison”, is the report.
- Fern speaks politely, so she uses そうです rather than casual そうだ.
- 〜によると means “according to”. 話 is what someone said, so ハイター様の話によると is “according to what Lord Heiter said”.
- The source phrase is optional with そうだ, but naming Heiter gives the figure weight. Heiter was a priest, so he would know.
- Fern calls Heiter ハイター様. 様 is a very respectful title. Heiter raised her, and she always speaks of him this way.
- 死因 is “cause of death”. 冒険者の死因 is the causes of death among adventurers.
- 割 counts tenths, so 二割 is two tenths, or twenty percent. 死因の二割は毒だ says poison accounts for a fifth of those deaths.
- 〜ましょう is the polite “let’s” form. After the grim statistic, Fern brushes off Stark’s protest: “Let’s hurry.”
Vocabulary
話 (Talk)
話 is a talk or conversation. It also means a story, or what someone said.
死因 (Cause of death)
死因 is the illness, injury, or event that caused someone to die. It is common in medical reports, police investigations, and legal records.
二割 (Twenty percent)
二割 means two tenths of a whole, or twenty percent.
毒 (Poison)
毒 means poison. It also describes anything harmful, including a corrupting influence or malicious words.
そう (So)
そう means “like that” or “that way”. Said alone, it agrees: “right”. After a verb stem or adjective, it means something looks or seems a certain way.
急ぐ (To hurry)
急ぐ means to hurry, either by doing something quickly or by going somewhere quickly.
See Also
- Grammar: Hearsay with 〜そうだ
- Grammar: According to with 〜によると and 〜によれば
- Grammar: Polite style with です and ます
- Kanji: Causes and dependence with 因
- Kanji: Death and dying with 死
- Kanji: Poison and toxicity with 毒