日本語道場 — Nihongo Dojo

～ようになる

~you ni naru

reach the point where

When to use it

Use ～ようになる to mark a transition into a new state, habit, or capability — the point where something that previously didn't happen now does. In business writing it is the standard way to report changes brought about by a new system, policy, or training (「〜できるようになりました」), and to describe shifts in a counterpart's behavior during negotiation. Contrast with ～ようにする (deliberate effort to make something habitual) and plain ～くなる/になる, which handle adjectives and nouns.

Formation

Verbs: dictionary form + ようになる —「使うようになる」「応じるようになる」
Potential verbs (very common): 「確認できるようになる」「見えるようになる」
Negative: 「〜ないようになる」is possible but stiff; prefer 「〜なくなる」(「残業しなくなった」)
i-adjectives: not used — use 〜くなる (「早くなる」), not ×早いようになる
na-adjectives / nouns: not used — use 〜になる (「便利になる」「部長になる」)
Written-register extensions: 「〜ようになってきた」(gradual), 「〜ようになりつつある」(in progress), 「〜ようになっている」(now the established practice)

Examples

With the new system, inventory can be checked in real time.
After repeated negotiations, the other side came around to our terms.
Since the training, junior staff have started making proposals on their own.
It's now our practice to share materials by the day before.
Approvals can now be issued remotely, which has sped up processing.