Group rules and decisions in Japanese: ことになりました and ことになっています

Level B1

Group rules and decisions in Japanese: ことになりました and ことになっています

By the end of this lesson, you can explain what was agreed in a group, at work or in the building where you live. The central idea is this: 働かないことにしました (hatarakanai koto ni shimashita) presents a choice the subject made, 働かないことになりました (hatarakanai koto ni narimashita) presents the matter as an outcome, without pointing at who chose, and 働かないことになっています (hatarakanai koto ni natte imasu) says that this is the arrangement now in force. Compare 土曜日は働かないことにしました, “I've decided not to work on Saturdays”, 土曜日は働かないことになりました, “It's been decided that we won't work on Saturdays”, and 土曜日は働かないことになっています, “The arrangement is that we don't work on Saturdays”.

Review: a ban, a duty and a choice

These three pieces come back in this lesson, even if this is the first time you've seen them. 飲んではいけません (nonde wa ikemasen), “you can't drink”, forbids something directly; ここ (koko) is “here”. 来なければなりません (konakereba narimasen), “you have to come”, states a duty; 八時 (hachiji) is eight o'clock. 公園に行くことにしました (kōen ni iku koto ni shimashita), “I've decided to go to the park”, reports a choice; 公園 is “park”, and こと after a verb turns the action into something you can talk about. Listen and repeat.

Two new endings and the words around them

Two endings do the work here: ことになる (koto ni naru) and ことになっている (koto ni natte iru). Both come after a verb's dictionary form or its plain negative, and the list shows them in their dictionary form. なる (naru) is “to become”, which is why ことになる sounds like a result: the matter has become settled. みんな (minna) is “everyone”, 決める (kimeru) is “to decide”, 会議 (kaigi) is “meeting”, ゴミを出す (gomi o dasu) is “to take out the trash”, 自転車 (jitensha) is “bicycle” and 置く (oku) is “to put, to leave”. You'll need these plain negatives: 働く (hataraku, to work) → 働かない (hatarakanai), 出す → 出さない (dasanai), 置く → 置かない (okanai), 飲む (nomu, to drink) → 飲まない (nomanai), する (suru, to do) → しない (shinai).

Model: what came of the meeting

Listen once without reading. A missed Friday's meeting, and B explains what came out of it. 金曜日 (kin'yōbi) is Friday, 土曜日 (doyōbi) is Saturday, 月曜日 (getsuyōbi) is Monday and 誰 (dare) is “who”. どうなりましたか (dō narimashita ka) asks how something turned out, and it uses the same なる. 来る (kuru) is “to come”, 話して (hanashite) is the て form of 話す (hanasu, to talk), and みんなで (minna de) is “all together”. Notice that B gives the results with ことになりました and says who decided only when A asks.

What came out: ことになりました

Put ことになりました after the dictionary form: 来る → 来ることになりました. For something that won't happen, use the plain negative before こと: 働かない → 働かないことになりました. The frame is the one in ことにしました, with one change at the end: する (to do) becomes なる (to become). That change carries the meaning too. With する, the subject makes the choice; with なる, the matter comes to be settled.

So ことになりました reports an outcome. It suits decisions taken by a group, by someone above you or by circumstances, and it's a handy way to pass news to someone who wasn't there. Like English “it's been decided”, it leaves out who chose. That doesn't mean the speaker had no part in it: in the model, B took part, and B still says ことになりました. People also use it for their own news, so 私は来週、日本に行くことになりました could be a work trip someone else arranged or a trip the speaker asked for. Only the situation tells you.

In these examples, 火曜日 (kayōbi) is Tuesday and する means “to hold” a meeting. 新しい人 (atarashii hito) is “a new person”, 来週 (raishū) is “next week”, 日本 (Nihon) is Japan and 明日 (ashita) is “tomorrow”. Among friends, use the plain past: ことになった. ことになる has other uses, such as saying how things will end up, which aren't part of this lesson.

行く／行かないことになりました

Model: rules at the new apartment

Listen once without reading. A has just moved in and asks a neighbour how things work in the building. 何曜日 (nan'yōbi) is “what day of the week”, 木曜日 (mokuyōbi) is Thursday, 夜 (yoru) is night and 朝 (asa) is morning. Each question uses てもいいですか, “may I?”, or asks for information. Notice that B doesn't say 出してはいけません: she explains how things are done here.

What's in force: ことになっています

Change なりました to なっています: ことになりました → ことになっています. The て form of なる with います shows a state that remains after a change, like ドアが開いています (doa ga aite imasu), “the door is open”. Here, what remains is the arrangement: it was settled at some point and it still holds. The sentence doesn't say when or by whom.

Use it for the rules of a building and for how a team has arranged things, whether it happens every week or once: 毎週 (maishū) is “every week”, and 八時に来ることになっています is one arranged time. The negative works as before: 置かないことになっています. Add か to ask what the arrangement is: 何時に来ることになっていますか. It says what was arranged, not that it always happens, and that's why “we're supposed to” is often a good English match. Among friends, you'll say ことになってる, the short form of ことになっている.

出す／置かないことになっています

A choice, an outcome or a rule in force?

The first three sentences differ only in their endings. ことにしました is a choice: here, the speaker made it. ことになりました is an outcome, with nobody named. ことになっています is the arrangement that now applies. The point isn't who really decided, but what you present: a group can say みんなで話して、土曜日は働かないことにしました, “We talked and chose not to work on Saturdays”, because it presents the choice as its own. If you tell colleagues your personal plan with ことになりました, they'll hear a settled matter, not a choice of yours.

The next two sentences are about the same ban. 飲んではいけません tells someone not to do it. 飲まないことになっています explains how it's done here (ここでは, “here”), so it tends to sound less like an order from you and more like information. The last two work the same way: 来なければなりません states the duty, and 来ることになっています states what was arranged. For a newcomer, ことになっています is often the friendlier way to explain a rule.

Your turn, and the summary

A new colleague asks about the hours. Cover the sentences below. In the colleague's place, ask what time you're supposed to come. Then answer that it's been decided you come at eight on Monday, say that everyone decided together, and explain the arrangement about Saturdays. Only then check. Next, play the neighbour at the apartment: explain when the trash goes out and where bicycles don't go. Finally, give a rule of a place you know with ことになっています, something your group settled with ことになりました and a choice of your own with ことにしました.

In short: ことにしました presents the subject's choice. ことになりました presents an outcome without naming who chose. ことになっています says what's in force now. All three come after the dictionary form or the plain negative.

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