Why does ようになる become ようになりました (past tense)?


So I know that using `dictionary form verb ようになりました` means I started to do
this thing that I didn't do before. But what would happen if I put it in
present tense with `ようになります` would that be wrong? Would that mean something
else? [On this website](http://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/you-ni-
naru.html) that describes how the structure works it describes it as `ようになる`
which is plain present tense but then all of the example sentences use
`ようになりました`. Why is it in past tense? Isn't it describing the current state of
things?




The short answer is: "Because 「～～ようになる」 refers to a **_future_** event."

That is exctly how the "present" tense works in many cases in Japanese.
「[大学]{だいがく}に[行]{い}きます。」 means "I **_will be attending_** college." In other
words, that is something a high school kid would say. If you were already a
college student, you would most invariably say 「大学に行っています。」.

「がんばれば、[日本語]{にほんご}が[話]{はな}せるように **なる** (or **なります** )。」

This sentence is talking about the future. ⇒ "You will be able to speak
Japanese if you study hard."

If you became able to speak it at some point in the past (and you can still
speak it presently), you would say:

「（２[年]{ねん}くらい[前]{まえ}に）日本語が話せるように **なった** (or **なりました** )。」

The state of "being able to speak Japanese" continues on up to the present
moment, but the present moment is not when it occured. It was "two years ago",
"ten years ago", etc.

This is why we use the "past" tense in Japanese.

