Learn Hardcore Japanese: haha no hanasi wo kiite, sukosi genki ni narimasita. - After listening to my mother's talk, I felt a little better.

In 少し元気になりました, the verb なりました (past polite of なる “to become”) describes a change of state.
In everyday speech or writing about your own feelings, the default subject is usually “I”.
Unless context clearly points to someone else, listeners/readers will naturally understand it as “I became a little more energetic / I felt a bit better.”

So the full idea is something like 私は母の話を聞いて、少し元気になりました。, but 私は is normally omitted.

What does the particle の do in 母の話し?

の links two nouns. Commonly, it shows possession or a close relationship.

母 = (my) mother
話し = talk / story / what she said
母の話し = my mother’s talk / my mother’s story / what my mother said

So 母の話しを聞いて means “hearing/listening to my mother’s words/story”.

Why is it 母 and not お母さん? What’s the difference?

Both refer to “mother”, but the usage differs:

母 (はは)
- Used when talking about your own mother to someone outside the family.
- Sounds neutral or slightly formal / modest.
お母さん (おかあさん)
- Used when addressing your mother directly (e.g. “Mom”), or
- When talking about someone else’s mother, as a polite form.

In a neutral written sentence about your own experience, 母 is natural. If you were speaking to your mother, you might say:

お母さんの話を聞いて、少し元気になりました。
“After listening to you, Mom, I felt a bit better.”

Is 話し here correct? I often see 話 instead. What’s the difference?

You’re right to notice this.

The standard/common way to write the noun “story / conversation / talk” is 話.
話し is historically the noun form from the verb 話す, and you may see it in some texts, but in modern everyday Japanese, 話 is overwhelmingly more common for the noun.

So you will most often see:

母の話を聞いて、少し元気になりました。

Treat 母の話し here as 母の話: “my mother’s story / what my mother said.”

What does the particle を do in 話しを聞いて?

を marks the direct object of the verb.

話しを聞く = to hear / listen to the talk/story
- 話し = what is heard
- 聞く = to hear / to listen
- を shows that 話し is what is being heard.

So 母の話しを聞いて = “(I) listened to / heard my mother’s talk.”

What exactly is the て-form 聞いて doing here?

The て-form of a verb (here, 聞いて from 聞く) is often used to connect clauses. In this sentence, it shows that:

You heard your mother’s story, and then
As a result / after that, you became a little better.

So 母の話しを聞いて、少し元気になりました。 can naturally be understood as:

“After I listened to my mother, I felt a little better.”
or “I listened to my mother, and (so) I felt a little better.”

The て-form here expresses sequence and/or cause without using an explicit word like “after” or “because”.

Does the comma after 聞いて change the meaning? Is it necessary?

The comma 、 is for readability and natural pausing, not for grammar.

母の話しを聞いて少し元気になりました。
母の話しを聞いて、少し元気になりました。

Both are grammatically fine and mean the same. The comma just makes the structure clearer:
[母の話しを聞いて]、[少し元気になりました].

What kind of word is 元気, and why does it become 元気に before なりました?

元気 is a な-adjective (often called a “na-adjective”) that means things like:

healthy
lively
energetic
in good spirits

Patterns:

As a simple predicate: 元気です = “(I) am well / energetic.”
When used with なる (“to become”), な-adjectives usually take に:
- 元気になる = “to become well / to get better / to cheer up”
- きれいになる = to become pretty/clean
- 静かになる = to become quiet

So:

元気に + なりました = “became (in a) energetic/cheerful state”
⇒ “I became a bit better / cheered up a bit / felt a little better.”

What does the に before なりました do? Why 元気に and not 元気?

なる (“to become”) typically takes に before nouns and な-adjectives to show the resulting state:

医者になる = become a doctor
有名になります = become famous
元気になります = become lively / get better

So the pattern is:

[noun / な-adjective] + に + なる

Here, 元気 is a な-adjective, so:

元気 + に + なりました
= “became (in a) lively / better state.”

Without に, the grammar would be wrong in standard Japanese.

What does 少し modify here? Does it describe 元気 or なりました?

少し is an adverb meaning “a little / a bit / slightly.” In this sentence it modifies the whole phrase 元気になりました:

少し（a little） + 元気になりました（became cheerful / felt better）

So the nuance is:

“I became a little better.”
“I felt a bit better / cheered up a little.”

It doesn’t mean “slightly-energetic person”; it means the degree of change in how you felt.

Why is the verb in the form なりました and not なります?

なりました is the past polite form of なる.

なります = “become(s)” (non-past, polite)
なりました = “became” (past, polite)

The sentence is talking about something that already happened: you listened to your mother, and after that you felt better. So past tense is natural:

少し元気になりました。
= “I became a little better / I felt a bit better.”

If you were stating a general tendency, you might use なります, but here it’s a specific event in the past.

Could 聞く here mean “ask” instead of “hear / listen”?

聞く has several meanings, mainly:

to hear / to listen
to ask

Which one it is depends on the object and context.

話を聞く → almost always “to listen to / hear the story/talk.”
母に聞く → “to ask my mother.”

In the given sentence:

The verb’s object is 母の話し (“my mother’s talk/story”), not 母 with に.
So here 聞いて clearly means “heard / listened to”, not “asked.”

How would I say “After listening to my mother, I felt much better” instead of “a little better”?

You can replace 少し (“a little”) with another adverb that shows a stronger degree, for example:

とても元気になりました。 = I became very well / felt much better.
だいぶ元気になりました。 = I got considerably better.
かなり元気になりました。 = I became quite a lot better.

So a natural version:

母の話を聞いて、だいぶ元気になりました。
“After listening to my mother, I felt much better.”

Can I say this sentence in plain (non-polite) form? How would it look?

Yes. Just change the verb to plain past なった:

Polite: 母の話を聞いて、少し元気になりました。
Plain: 母の話を聞いて、少し元気になった。

Use:

なりました when speaking politely (to strangers, teachers, etc.)
なった with friends, family, or in casual writing.