Explaining changes in Japanese: what you can do now and what you no longer do

Level B1

Explaining changes in Japanese: what you can do now and what you no longer do

Someone asks what has changed since you came to Japan. You can eat fish now, you get to the station on your own, and you don't drink coffee anymore. In this lesson you say all of that with two endings on verbs you know: ようになりました (yō ni narimashita) for what began and なくなりました (naku narimashita) for what stopped. Put 前は (mae wa, before) and 今は (ima wa, now) around them, and you can tell a before and a now.

Review: the forms you start from

Both endings start from plain forms you know. The potential says what is possible: 魚が食べられる (sakana ga taberareru, I can eat fish), コーヒーが飲める (kōhī ga nomeru, I can drink coffee), バスで駅に行ける (basu de eki ni ikeru, you can get to the station by bus). The ない form says what doesn't happen: パンを食べない (pan o tabenai, I don't eat bread), コーヒーを飲まない (kōhī o nomanai, I don't drink coffee), 明日は行かない (ashita wa ikanai, I'm not going tomorrow).

These sentences are plain, the way you talk with friends. In this lesson the form moves to the middle of the sentence, and the politeness goes on the last verb, なりました.

Words for talking about change

前 (mae) is “before”, at an earlier time; 今 (ima) is “now”, in the sense of these days. With は they set two times against each other: 前は…, 今は…. なる (naru) is “to become”, and なりました is its polite past; 変わる (kawaru) is “to change”. 毎日 (mainichi) is “every day”, and 一人で (hitori de) is “alone, on your own”.

Model: what has changed?

Listen once without reading. Leo lives in Japan now, and someone asks him what has changed. 来て (kite) is the て form of 来る (kuru, to come), so 日本に来て means “having come to Japan”. どうですか (dō desu ka) is “how about…?”, and ね at the end checks something both people remember. Listen to how every answer from Leo ends: he always finishes on なりました.

What began: ようになりました

Take a plain form and add ようになりました: something that wasn't so before is so now. You can treat ようになりました as one block, with no need to analyse よう. The form in front decides the meaning. After the potential you have a new ability: 魚が食べられるようになりました (sakana ga taberareru yō ni narimashita), “I can eat fish now”. After the dictionary form of 食べる, 飲む or 行く you have a new habit: 魚を食べるようになりました (sakana o taberu yō ni narimashita), “I've started eating fish”.

The particles stay as they were: が usually goes with the potential, を with 食べる and 飲む, and に with 行く. は can take the place of が or を to mark the topic, as in コーヒーは飲まなくなりました in the model. English needs “now” or “started”, but the Japanese ending already says it. It describes a lasting change, so for one meal, say 今日は魚を食べました (kyō wa sakana o tabemashita, I ate fish today).

…行ける／行くようになりました

What stopped: なくなりました

Take the ない form, change the final い to く, and add なりました: 飲まない becomes 飲まなく, and コーヒーを飲まなくなりました (kōhī o nomanaku narimashita) means “I don't drink coffee anymore”. There is no よう in this form. 行かない gives 行かなくなりました, and 食べない gives 食べなくなりました.

The potential has a ない form too, so the same step gives an ability you have lost: 飲めない becomes お酒が飲めなくなりました (osake ga nomenaku narimashita), “I can't drink alcohol anymore”. The sentence reports the change and doesn't say whether it was your decision, so “not anymore” is a safer translation than “I quit”.

…飲まなく／行かなくなりました

One verb, four changes

行く shows the whole map; listen to the four lines and compare them. 行けるようになりました: you couldn't go, and now you can. 行くようになりました: you didn't go, and now you do. 行かなくなりました: you used to go, and now you don't. 行けなくなりました: you could go, and now you can't. All four end in なりました; what comes before it tells you which change it is. 飲む and 食べる work the same way.

Before and now: a fact or a change?

コーヒーを飲みません (kōhī o nomimasen) is a fact: I don't drink coffee. コーヒーを飲まなくなりました says that it's a change: I used to, and now I don't. 魚が食べられます and 魚が食べられるようになりました differ in the same way. If nothing has changed, stay with ます and ません.

To set the scene, start from the past. For something that kept happening, use ていました: 前は毎日コーヒーを飲んでいました (mae wa mainichi kōhī o nonde imashita), “I used to drink coffee every day”; English “used to” has no single word here. For what wasn't possible, take the potential to ませんでした: 行けません becomes 行けませんでした. In a story, a clause with とき (toki, when) can do the same job: 日本に来たとき (Nihon ni kita toki), “when I came to Japan”.

After a complete sentence, が means “but”; it isn't the subject が, which follows a noun. It joins the two halves into one sentence: 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. 分かる (wakaru, to understand) has no potential form, so it goes straight before ようになりました, and the result is still a new ability. 今は is optional, since the ending already marks the change; it adds the contrast with 前は.

Your turn, and the summary

Someone you know asks what has changed. Cover the sentences below and say, politely: you couldn't drink alcohol before, but now you can; you used to go to the café every day, but you don't go anymore; you've started going to the park every day. Then check. After that, say three true things about yourself: a new ability, a new habit and something you no longer do.

In short: ようになりました says what began, a new ability after the potential and a new habit after the dictionary form of verbs like 食べる; ない becomes なく before なりました for what stopped; 前は and 今は set the two times against each other.

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