つまり
- 1In other words / that is to say: restates the preceding content in another, often clearer, form.Ex. 1
- 2In short / that means: sums up the situation or states the conclusion that follows from it.Ex. 2
SentenceA complete sentence. It can end in a verb, an adjective, or a noun + だ／です.
雨が降る・昨日は寒かった・明日は休みです
SentenceA complete sentence. It can end in a verb, an adjective, or a noun + だ／です.
雨が降る・昨日は寒かった・明日は休みです
Plain-form sentenceA sentence ending in a plain form, i.e. not ending in です／ます.
雨が降る・昨日は寒かった・ここは静かだ
Verb (plain form)The plain (non-ます) forms of a verb: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
行く・行かない・行った・行かなかった
The dictionary form is only one of these: 行く.
i-adj. (plain form)The plain (non-です) forms of an i-adjective: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
高い・高くない・高かった・高くなかった
The dictionary form is only one of these: 高い. The polite version adds です to the plain form.
This browser can't play pronunciations (needs Safari 18.4 or later, or Chrome / Edge / Firefox).
つまり is neutral in register and common in both speech and writing, especially when explaining, clarifying, or reasoning toward a conclusion. It frequently pairs with sentence endings such as ということだ or わけだ. Compared with すなわち, it is less formal; compared with 要するに, it covers both exact restatement and summarizing rather than mainly cutting to the gist.
Do not use つまり to add new, unrelated information; what follows should restate or sum up what came before.
- 1.すなわちN3「すなわち」 can also restate a noun in apposition or rephrase/summarize at the start of a sentence, with essentially the same meaning as 「つまり」; however, it is formal in tone and mostly seen in papers, legal texts, and speeches, and is generally not used in everyday conversation.
- 2.要するにN2「要するに」 focuses on compressing longer content into the key point and is not used for word-by-word rephrasing or noun apposition; when drawing a conclusion it can be swapped with 「つまり」, but its tone is stronger, and when summarizing what someone said it often carries a nuance of seeing through their intent or impatience.
- 3.ということだN3「ということだ」 attaches to the end of a sentence, while 「つまり」 is a conjunction placed before the rephrased or summarized content, so the two cannot be swapped; they are often used together when rephrasing or concluding. 「ということだ」 can also express hearsay ('apparently/I hear that'), which 「つまり」 cannot.
- 4.ということはN2「ということは」 emphasizes drawing a conclusion from a premise and corresponds only to the concluding sense of 「つまり」, in which case the two are often interchangeable; it cannot be used for simple rephrasing. Besides sentence-initial position, it can also follow a clause (nouns and な-adjectives take 「だ」).
- 5.わけだN3「わけだ」 is used at the end of a sentence to indicate a conclusion reached by logic, and can also mean 'no wonder'; 「つまり」 is a conjunction expressing rephrasing or conclusion, and can also connect nouns in apposition. When concluding, the two are often combined: 「つまり…わけだ」.
すなわち is a more formal, written counterpart used mainly for exact restatement, while 要するに stresses boiling things down to the essential point. ということだ and わけだ are sentence endings that often close a つまり sentence, and ということは is a connective that takes up what was just said to draw an inference ('so that means...').
