Según

The dictionary will tell you that según means according to, making it sound like it's used mostly for quoting academic or news sources: According to recent studies, .... But según is used in everyday conversation with a wider range of sources. As you'll see from the examples below, there's often an implicit element of doubt involved: So-and-so claims such-and-such is true but I don't necessarily believe it.

Somebody Claims Something

• Siempre salen las dos palomitas y según él no le llega nada. My messages to him in whatsapp always show as having arrived but he claims they haven't.
• Ah sí. Según tú, ibas a tu casa a dormir pero luego te vieron en el antro. Oh sure. You said you were going home to sleep but later they spotted you at the club.
• Según él, es porque .... His theory is that ....
• Según ella. That's what she said. (I don't necessarily agree.)
• Según me van a cambiar a Regalos. Supposedly they're going to transfer me to the gift department. That's the gossip I heard.

You can even use según to doubt yourself: Según yo, agarré mis llaves. I thought I grabbed my keys when I headed out (but apparently I didn't, because now I don't have them).

Grammar Note: Según, unlike most prepositions, takes nominative case: según yo, not *según mí. Other exceptions are como, menos, incluso and hasta.

No Source

If the source of the information is either obvious from the context or not important, it may be omitted. In those cases, según has no complement. In the examples below, the underlined text translates según.

• Pues según estudio ingeniería en informatica pero la verdad le he dado más prioridad al trabajo. In theory I'm an systems engineering student but I end up spending more time on work than on school.
• Ramiro según va a llegar más tarde. Supposedly Ramiro is going to arrive later.
• Según ven una película pero ni la ven. Supposedly they're watching a movie but actually they're not.
• Según venden. I've been told they sell it.

Según clause

To emphasize the way you learned the information under discussion, begin a clause with según. As you can see from these examples, a possible translation is From what ... or Based on what ...:

• Según (tengo) entendido, son principiantes. From what I understand, they're beginners. Also: Según entiendo.
• Según tenemos entendido, .... From what we understand, ....
• Según recuerdo, .... From what I remember, ....
• Según escuché, .... From what I heard, ....
• Según vi, .... From what I saw, ....
• Según me han dicho, .... From what they've told me, ....