meowbrown:

〜ようになった

Context (skip this part if you’re here for the Japanese)

I haven’t shared it on here but I’ve been laid off this April. And a couple of people reached out to me to help them with their websites. And I finally finished my first project this week!

能力 (verb potential form) + ようになった

to become able to

so here it’s always used as an affirmative case as mean to gain the ability, therefore using the potential form of the verb

やっとフリーランサーって言えるようになったが気がする！
I feel like I can (be able to) finally say I’m a freelancer.

What about an ability affected negatively?

According to the reference post below, it’s to stick with なくなる, so for example:

食べられる -> 食べられなくなる

Reference

Potential verbs with and without ようになる

Coincidently, today in my journal, I was writing about freelancing and used ようになった in a slightly different way than the above. But ultimately it comes down to what verb was used:

〜よになった in general: change in habit/state

嫌なプロジェクトにはイライラするようになった。
I started to get annoyed by the projects that I don’t like.

The state changed from
not annoyed by projects -> annoyed by projects.

So for 言えるようになった
I can’t say -> I can say

ほど to the degree of

Another sentence structure that I often get the order wrong.

母ほど綺麗じゃない。

Notes to help me remember:

1. First look at the second part of the sentence: 綺麗じゃない Not pretty. Then ask myself: to what degree am I not pretty?
2. Answer with the first part: I’m not pretty to the degree of my mom.

Another example:

バカな私にもわかるほどこの宿題は易しいです。

1. The homework is easy. To what degree is it easy?
2. Even as stupid as me I can understand.

The second part is the part I want to convey, and the first part is for adding details of to what degree.

に会う vs. と会う

I revisited this today and I just couldn’t remember the difference, so writing it down.

• と会う both parties make an effort to meet
• に会う only one party moves

So for example:
叔母に会う。This implies that I’m going to go to my aunt’s place or somewhere that I’m the person moving.

叔母と会う。We are meeting up somewhere, where both of us needs to take action.

To expand a bit more:

✅ 車が壁にぶつかる💥。

❌ 車が壁とぶつかる。

The car crashing into the wall means only the car is taking action, so using に is more natural in this case.

I like how when I type ぶつかる it let’s me select the emoji, so I know exactly what it means 🤣

名詞 + すら

Going through the list of shows on Netflix but can’t even pick one!!!! I can relate to that from the podcast.

自分はやることもないし、見たいものすらないのか！！？？？
I have nothing to do, and I don’t even have anything I want to watch?!

Usually used in a negative way.

〜子供ですら知ってる。
Even a child knows that.

Reference

With the timecode from the podcast

〜ようになった

Context (skip this part if you’re here for the Japanese)

I haven’t shared it on here but I’ve been laid off this April. And a couple of people reached out to me to help them with their websites. And I finally finished my first project this week!

能力 (verb potential form) + ようになった

to become able to

so here it’s always used as an affirmative case as mean to gain the ability, therefore using the potential form of the verb

やっとフリーランサーって言えるようになったが気がする！
I feel like I can (be able to) finally say I’m a freelancer.

What about an ability affected negatively?

According to the reference post below, it’s to stick with なくなる, so for example:

食べられる -> 食べられなくなる

Reference

Potential verbs with and without ようになる

「決める」と「決まる」

決まる – 自動詞

It is a state going from not being determined -> determined.

僕、バイト決まったよ。
I got a part-time job. (not have part-time job -> have part-time job)

日程（にってい）が決まる。
The schedule is decided.

決める – 他動詞

The person talking decides it.

日程を決める。
The schedule will be decided.

Reference

【自動詞v.s.他動詞】「決める」和「決まる」的差別

白い目で見る

映画中に携帯をマナーモードにせず、電話が鳴った彼は周りから白い目で見られた。
He who didn’t put the phone on silent mode during the movie and it rang, he was looked at coldly by those around him.

Reference

The preview picture in the post is spot on!

白い目で見る

～ずに

without

朝ごはんを食べずにオフィスに行くと、疲れますよ。
You’ll get tired if you go to the office without eating breakfast.

若い頃は何も考えずに、思うことを全部書いた。
When I was young I wrote down everything I was thinking about without thinking.

So for verbs it’s actually ない form of the verb but remove the ない + ずに. It’s that my verbs used here are all Group II words so it wasn’t obvious.

Notes from 2025-02-18

Reference

JLPT N3 Grammar: ずに (zuni) Meaning – JLPTsensei.com

年代が上がるにつれ…

as X then Y

年代が上がるにつれ、いつも会うのは難しいです。
As the years go by, meeting often becomes difficult.

Grammar

Noun + につれ/につれて

Verb (dictionary form) + につれ/につれて

につれ is the shortened form

Reference

I forgot which podcast episode this was from but it was from

SAYAS Japanese Lesson

JLPT N3 Grammar: につれて (ni tsurete) Meaning – JLPTsensei.com

meowbrown:

2025年日本語の勉強ゴール

Looking back at 2024, I’m around N3 for reading and listening. And because I know Chinese, I can guess the meaning of a lot of 漢字 (although I don’t know how to pronounce them).

But I’m still very weak with outputting (writing and speaking), maybe around N5-N4 level.

As I rarely study outside of my lessons (1 hour lesson per week), I’m not going to go with a plan that changes what I’m currently doing drastically. With aggressive plans, it’ll probably fail within a month.

So my 新年の抱負 (ほうふ) is:

Write one diary per week and no more than 3 entries if I’m really into it to not burn myself out.

週に一回日記を投稿するようにします。やる気があるときは最大 (さいだい) 3回までにして、燃え尽きない (もえつきない) ように気をつけます。

Half year check in!

Although I stopped posting my 日記 to tumblr, I’ve been doing once per week up until now (since I have Japanese class each week).

One thing I’d like to note is that I started using Migaku in May. I’ve studied more vocab than ever since I started using it and the streak is going strong!

It is the best tool for immersion IMO because all you need to do is just install the browser extension and you’re good to go.