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Gogaku

All N4 grammar

N4

〜ようになる

Come to… / became able to… (change in ability or habit)machine translation

FormationVerb dictionary form / potential form + ようになる (negative: ない-form minus い + くなる)

ようになる expresses a CHANGE that happens gradually over time: it wasn't so before, but now it is. With the potential form, it describes a new ability: 漢字が読めるようになりました (I've become able to read kanji — I couldn't before). With the dictionary form, it describes a new habit: 弟は野菜を食べるようになりました (my little brother has come to eat vegetables).

Why is ように needed here? At N5 you learned that なる attaches directly to adjectives and nouns (寒くなる、先生になる), but verbs can't attach straight to なる — they need the ようになる bridge. The pattern's emphasis is on gradual change, so it pairs beautifully with 毎日練習して、〜ようになりました.

The reverse direction — losing an ability or habit — is not ないようになる but the shortened 〜なくなる: 最近、新聞を読まなくなりました (lately I've stopped reading the newspaper). And don't mix it up with ようにする in the next lesson: ようになる is a change that arrives ON ITS OWN (a result), while ようにする is you actively TRYING to bring about a change (an effort).

Examples

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