kyuu ni samuku narimashita.

cold

Breakdown of kyuu ni samuku narimashita.

• なる: to become
• 急きゅう に: suddenly

Questions & Answers about kyuu ni samuku narimashita.

What does 急に mean here, and why is に used?

急に (きゅうに) means “suddenly” or “abruptly.”

• 急 is a な-adjective (形容動詞).
• To turn a な-adjective (or many nouns) into an adverb, you add に:
  • 急だ → 急に (“be sudden” → “suddenly”)

Why is 寒い changed to 寒く before なりました, and what does the ～くなる pattern mean?

This is the ～くなる pattern, which expresses “to become …”:
1) Take an い-adjective like 寒い.
2) Drop the final い, add く → 寒く.
3) Attach the verb なる (“to become”).
4) In the sentence, なりました is the polite past form of なる.
So 寒くなりました means “became cold.”

Could I just say 寒くなりました without 急に? How does the nuance change?

Yes.

• 寒くなりました = “It became cold.”
• 急に寒くなりました adds the sense of abruptness: “It suddenly became cold.”

Is 急に寒くなりました the same as ?