Lesson 20 of 24
Just A Moment Ago
about 13 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Say that something is about to happen, is happening, or has just happened.
- Say what you make a point of doing, and what you have become able to do.
Words this lesson teaches
- ところ
- the point at which something stands
- ばかり
- only just, no more than
- とまります
- stops, comes to a halt
- すこし
- a little
- まいにち
- every day
- こころがけます
- makes a point of doing
- だんだん
- gradually
- なれます
- gets used to
What it explains
〜ようにする: making a point of it
Plain form plus ようにする. It is not a decision taken once — that is ことにする from the last lesson — but a policy kept up: 「まいにち よむようにしています」, I make a point of reading every day. The ている form is the usual one, because the whole meaning is that it is ongoing.
〜ようになる: the change that arrived
Plain form plus ようになる, most often with the potential inside it: 「よめるようになりました」 — I have come to be able to read. This is the sentence a learner will use about themselves more than any other, and it is worth noticing that Japanese frames the gain as something that happened to you rather than something you achieved.
The scene itself is in the app.
Lesson one of this track is free to read in full. From lesson two on, the story, the audio and the review are part of a free account.
