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Inferential evidential, or inferential evidentiality, is a grammatical category used in some languages to mark statements that are inferred from indirect evidence rather than directly witnessed. It is part of the broader evidential system, which also includes direct (sensory) and reportative evidentials, each signaling the source of a speaker’s information.

In languages with an inferential evidential, the signal can appear as a dedicated affix, particle, or mood, and the exact form varies cross-linguistically. Some languages encode it through a verb affix; others use periphrastic constructions or sentence-final particles. The category can interact with tense, aspect, and other mood markers, producing a range of nuanced meanings.

Usage and semantics center on epistemic stance. An inferential evidential indicates that the speaker’s knowledge is not based on direct observation but on reasoning, contextual clues, or information from another source such as hearsay. This often carries hedging or modesty about certainty and can affect how listeners interpret the proposition within discourse.

Examples and cross-linguistic variation: Turkish is frequently cited as having an inferential or reported past mood expressed by the suffix -miş, used when information is perceived as inferred or second-hand. In Turkish, a sentence like Ali geldi-miş can be understood as “Ali came (it seems) / apparently Ali came.” Other languages exhibit analogous markers with differing scope and integration into the grammar.

See also: Evidentiality; Reportative evidential; Direct evidential; Epistemic modality.