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In Genki I, になります and になりました are used interchangeably. Does になります imply "has become" and the other imply "had become"? For example,

  1. 夏は暑くなります。　→　（This） summer has become hot
  2. 去年の夏は暑くなりました。→　Last summer had become hot

Also, is it natural to use になっている for "is becoming"?

Edit: This grammar is very short section in chapter 10 (section 5)

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    Could you refer to the chapter and page of the Genki textbook, I highly doubt they're used interchangeably.
    – JansthcirlU
    Sep 1, 2020 at 16:26
  • @JansthcirlU I have made appropriate edits. The book provides very less information and very few examples.
    – Aditya Dev
    Sep 1, 2020 at 16:32
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    Are those English translations your own, or are they directly from the book?
    – user3856370
    Sep 1, 2020 at 16:34
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    This is really more of an English grammar issue, but without some special context there's no reason at all to translate "なりました" into the past perfect ("had become hot.") It should be the simple past tense, "became hot" or "became hotter," or more colloquially "got hot" / "got hotter." (It would make sense to use the past perfect if, for example, you were telling a story set in August and you were saying that it had been cool in June, had gotten hot in July, but was much cooler again in August.)
    – Nanigashi
    Sep 1, 2020 at 16:58
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    That would depend on context. The present perfect "has become hot" / "has gotten hot" works well in English if you're speaking about this summer, and it's still summer when you're speaking ("it has gotten hot in Austin this summer.") But if you’re making a more general statement (for example, talking about the climate of a particular region), the simple present tense works better ("summer gets very hot in Texas.")
    – Nanigashi
    Sep 1, 2020 at 17:48

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暑くなります refers to a general fact (if you are talking about what the summer in a certain country is like), or something in the future (if you are talking about one specific upcoming summer).

暑くなりました refers to something in the past. That said, なりました ("became") refers to a state change in the past, so you can say 暑くなりました in the middle of the summer while it's still hot. On the other hand, you cannot say 今年の夏は暑かった in the middle of the summer because this past tense implies it is no longer hot now.

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