ということは
- 1Introduces a logical inference drawn from the preceding fact: "that means (it must be that)…".Ex. 1
- 2Spells out what the preceding statement implies, often closed with ということだ: "that means…".Ex. 2
Used alone at the start of a sentence, picking up the previous sentence
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.
na-adj. stemA na-adjective without な, i.e. the form listed in a dictionary.
静か・きれい・好き
Add な before a noun (静かな部屋); as a predicate, follow it with だ／です (静かだ).
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Neutral in register, it is common in conversation, explanations and reasoning, where the speaker reacts to a fact by working out what follows from it. The pattern ということは…ということだ frames both the premise and its implication. Unlike つまり, which mainly rephrases or summarizes, ということは stresses that the speaker is deducing something from the fact.
Note that the clause after ということは should be a conclusion inferred from the preceding fact, not an unrelated new statement.
Learners sometimes use ということは for simple rewording, where つまり is more natural because no inference is being drawn.
- 1.わけだN3わけだ comes at the end of a sentence to wrap up a conclusion, while ということは opens an inference at the start of a sentence or after the previous one; the two often combine as 「ということは、…わけだ」. わけだ also has a 'no wonder' nuance that ということは lacks.
- 2.というわけだN1というわけだ goes at the end of a sentence to sum up preceding facts into a conclusion or explain how something happened, whereas ということは opens the inference earlier and the conclusion must be written in a separate following sentence. Because of this positional difference they cannot be swapped directly, though they are often used together in sequence.
- 3.つまりN3つまり is mostly interchangeable with ということは when summing up a conclusion, but it can also simply rephrase something, or even link two nouns (「母の弟、つまりおじ」) — uses ということは cannot handle.
- 4.ということだN3ということだ comes at the end of a sentence, expressing either a conclusion ('in other words') or hearsay ('I hear that'); ということは introduces an inference at the start of a sentence or after a clause, carries no hearsay meaning, and the following sentence often ends with ということだ.
- 5.としたら / とすればN3としたら / とすれば themselves set up a hypothesis, meaning 'if...'. ということは cannot express a hypothesis on its own; it takes a fact or hypothesis already laid out in the preceding text and draws a conclusion from it, so the two are generally not interchangeable.
わけだ and というわけだ come at the end of a sentence and present a conclusion or explanation as the natural result. ということは instead opens the inference, つまり mainly restates or summarizes, sentence-final ということだ states the meaning (or hearsay) itself, and としたら／とすれば set up a hypothetical premise rather than reasoning from an actual fact.
