Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 8: 9/13

になる・くなるTo become (Adjective)

Structure

［な］Adjective + に + なる
［い］Adjective［く］+ なる
Noun + に + なる

Exceptions:
いい ￫ よくなる

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Expression

  • Word Type

    Verb

  • Register

    Standard

About ～になる・～くなる

になる (with な-Adjectives), or くなる (with い-Adjectives) is an expression used in Japanese to show that something is 'becoming (A)'. It can be used with any form of なる, to highlight that something will become (non-past), is becoming (continuous), or has become (past). It can even be used with negative forms, to show that something 'will not become (A)'.

In the example with the tea getting cold, we can see how ている sometimes highlights something that exists in an ongoing state, rather than changing any further. In other words, 'the tea has gotten cold, and remains to be cold'.

Additionally, the adjective いい 'good' is an exception to the regular conjugation rules for い-Adjectives, and will conjugate as よくなる, not いくなる.

Examples

--:--

    難(むずか)しくなる。

    To become difficult.

    嬉(うれ)しくなる。

    To become happy.

    早(はや)くなる。

    To become fast.

    よくなる。[いい]

    To become better.

      よくなる。

      To become better.

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        ～になる・～くなる – Grammar Discussion

        Most Recent Replies (44 in total)

        • Fuga

          Fuga

          Hey @Yokokun !

          This sentence is translated as ‘The tea got cold’ because of the ている that is used in this sentence. As explained in this grammar point, in Japanese, when something exist in the state of being something (cold in this example) it will stay in that state. This means that the tea is not ‘getting cold’, but it has stopped being warm, and now it exists in the state of being cold.

          Hope this answers your question!

        • Yokokun

          Yokokun

          Thanks for your answer!

          I‘m still not sure I fully get it, though. The ている is attached to and modifying なる, so the literal meaning - as I understand it - would be „is in the state of becoming“, therefore „is becoming/getting cold“.

          If the intended meaning is „got cold“, why not use „つめたくなったよ。“ instead, like in one of the other examples „コーヒーが温くなった。“ ?

          Or is there a difference in nuance in English between „got“ and „has become“ I‘m not getting (as a non-native speaker) here?

          And if what I actually want to say is „the tea is (in the state of) getting cold“ which construction would I use in Japanese?

          (Sorry I‘m deep diving so much into this, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around this.)

        • Fuga

          Fuga

          The difference between 冷たくなっているよ and 冷たくなったよ is the nuance and similar to how ‘has become’ and ‘became’ have a slight difference in nuance. 冷たくなっているよ has the nuance of ‘it has become cold’, and 冷たくなったよ has the nuance of ‘it became cold’. With 冷たくなっているよ the tea is still in the process of getting cold, while with 冷たくなったよ, just focuses on the fact that it got cold sometime in the past.

          To express ‘the tea is (in the state of) getting cold’, 冷たくなっている would be best to use!
          I hope this clears it up!

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