Describing trends in Japanese: 増えてきました and 変わりつつあります

Level B2

Describing trends in Japanese: 増えてきました and 変わりつつあります

A colleague shows you a graph: more people cycle to work, fewer drive, and the train figure stays flat. In this lesson you describe that movement with 増える (fueru, to increase), 減る (heru, to decrease) and 変わる (kawaru, to change). 増えてきました (fuete kimashita) follows a change up to now, and 変わりつつあります (kawaritsutsu arimasu) says in writing that a change is still under way. You will also keep what the graph shows apart from what you only suppose.

Review: before, now and a careful guess

You can already set two moments side by side: 前は日本語が分かりませんでしたが、今は少し分かるようになりました (mae wa nihongo ga wakarimasen deshita ga, ima wa sukoshi wakaru yō ni narimashita, I didn't understand Japanese before, but now I understand a little). That is one person's change between two moments. A trend follows many people or things over time.

You also know two ways not to claim too much. ようです (yō desu) concludes from something you can see: アナさんのリュックがありますから、もう来ているようです (Ana's backpack is here, so she seems to have arrived). かもしれません (kamoshiremasen) only opens a possibility: あのカフェは高いかもしれません (that café might be expensive). A graph will need both.

Words for talking about a trend

増える (fueru) means “to increase” and 減る (heru) “to decrease”. Both say what happens to the number by itself, so what changes takes が or, in a contrast, は, not を: 人が増えます. If you are the one cutting something, Japanese uses another verb, 減らす (herasu, to reduce). 最近 (saikin) is “nowadays, lately”, だんだん (dandan) “gradually” and 少しずつ (sukoshizutsu) “little by little”. グラフ (gurafu) is “graph”, 報告書 (hōkokusho) “report” and 原因 (gen'in) “cause”. The last two entries are this lesson's endings, shown under their dictionary names てくる and つつある; below you will see them as きました and つつあります.

The graph: how people get to work

Each square stands for 100 people who commute by that means. The numbers are round on purpose, so that all your effort goes into the language. Bicycles go up by 100 a year, cars go down by 100 a year, and trains stay at 200. 2026 is now, so 2023 is three years ago.

YearBy bicycleBy carBy train
2023■ 100■■■■ 400■■ 200
2024■■ 200■■■ 300■■ 200
2025■■■ 300■■ 200■■ 200
2026■■■■ 400■ 100■■ 200

Model: reading the graph together

Listen once without reading. Ana shows Leo the graph at work. 通勤する (tsūkin suru) is “to commute”, and 自転車で通勤する人 (jitensha de tsūkin suru hito) is “people who commute by bicycle”: the whole description comes before 人. 百人 is hyakunin and 四百人 yonhyakunin. Notice how Ana refuses to go beyond the data, and what Leo decides to write in the end.

Change up to now: てきました

Take the て form of a verb of change and add きました: 増える gives 増えて and 増えてきました, 減る gives 減ってきました, 変わる gives 変わってきました. This きました is the verb 来る, written in kana, but nobody is moving here: the change has been coming along up to the present, and you are looking back at it from now. In a sentence like 持ってきました (I brought it), きました keeps its real meaning of coming.

なる works the same way: 高い gives 高くなる and 高くなってきました. With 最近, the sentence often says that the change has started to show lately. English needs “have been -ing” or “more and more”; Japanese puts it all in the ending. You will also read 増えています (fuete imasu) for a trend; it is very common, but this lesson practises てきました.

…増えて／減って／変わってきました

The result or the process?

The same graph allows both 増えました and 増えてきました, because they show different things. ました reports a result, and it suits a measured amount: 三年で三百人増えました (sannen de sanbyakunin fuemashita), “in three years, it went up by 300 people”. で marks the period the change took, and the amount goes straight before the verb, with no particle. てきました follows the process up to now, so it sits naturally with だんだん and 少しずつ. Use ました to give the figures and てきました to describe the shape of the line.

Still under way, in writing: つつあります

Take the ます form without ます and add つつあります: 増えます gives 増えつつあります (fuetsutsu arimasu), 減ります gives 減りつつあります (heritsutsu arimasu), 変わります gives 変わりつつあります (kawaritsutsu arimasu). The form says that a change is in progress and has not reached its end, like English “is on the rise”. It sounds written: you find it in reports, articles and captions, and also in news and presentations, while everyday conversation prefers てきました. Before と, as in Leo's last line, it takes its plain form, つつある. In this lesson, use it with these three verbs, in one written line that sums up a graph.

…増え／減り／変わりつつあります

What the data says and what you suppose

A graph like this one shows numbers, not their causes. What it shows, you can state and attribute: グラフによると… (gurafu ni yoru to, according to the graph). Here the sentence ends without そうです because you are describing what you can see; with そうです, you pass on what the source reports. What you conclude from a sign takes ようです, and before it てきました takes its plain form, てきた: 駐車場の車が少ないから、車で通勤する人が減ってきたようです (there are few cars in the parking lot, so fewer people seem to be driving to work). A possible cause puts から before かもしれません: ガソリンが高くなったからかもしれません (maybe it's because gasoline has become more expensive); after a な adjective, add だ: 便利だからかもしれません. A forecast takes かもしれません directly: 来年も増えるかもしれません (rainen mo fueru kamoshiremasen, it might go up next year too). So before you say why a number moved, ask whether the data really says so. That is why Ana answered 原因はこのグラフからは分かりません.

Your graph: paying at a café

Each square stands for 100 customers a day who pay that way. Look at the two columns before you go on.

YearBy phoneIn cash
2024■ 100■■■ 300
2025■■ 200■■ 200
2026■■■ 300■ 100

Your turn, and the summary

Cover the sentences below and describe the café's graph. Say politely that more and more people have been paying by phone, then that fewer and fewer have been paying in cash, with は to set them against the phone users. 払う (harau) is “to pay”, 現金 (genkin) is “cash” and スマホ (sumaho) is “smartphone”; スマホで払う人 follows the same model as 自転車で通勤する人. Next, write one line for a report about cash with つつあります. Finally, suggest a possible cause that claims no more than you know: phones may be more convenient. Then check.

In short: 増える, 減る and 変わる say what moves; ました gives the result, てきました follows the change up to now, and つつあります says in writing that it is still under way. What the data doesn't show takes ようです or かもしれません.

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