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I came across the following expression and I cannot understand how to translate it 使えるようになりました。
According to Google Translate: "You can now use it". I was wondering how this translation fits. Where is "now" coming from? If I translate literally then it sounds like "Became in a manner of being able to use." Is ようになる part of a set phrase?
使えるようになりました。
Literally
It has come to be usable/in use.
'使えるようになりました' implies that you could not use 'it' before.
So I think the google's translation 'now you can use it.' sounds natural to me.
If they want to say that you can use something without connoting that you couldn't use it in the past, they say/write '使用可能です' or 'ご利用ください' and so on and on. -without using past tense in the sentence.
I have to add that 'ようになる' is a set phrase.
e.g. その事故のあと、彼はその薬を欠かさないようになった。
After the accident, the drug became indispensable to him.
ようになる emphasizes that there is a change in comparison to the past.
It might be easier to see it as a set phrase, but it's not really one.
使えるようになりました means "I have become able to use it".
使える is "able to use".
Which is from the verb 使う -> To use.
なりました is "have become".
You just need something to connect those 2 together and "ように" is it.
よう can be used in many ways, but it basically means, "looks like, appearing, similar, etc...".
For example,
楽しいように見える
This looks like fun.
