Little language help !
 

Hi !

I would need some help explaining a verb form which I did not see anywhere, I got a message from a friend with the following : "明日から東京へ行くことになりそうです！" -- What bugs me is the "ことになりそうです！", I've seen on a website the form "koto ni shimasu/suru", but haven't found anything for "koto ni nari" ? Can someone please explain what is this used for, or send me a reference ??

thanks for any help !

The literal meaning of ～～する事になる is "The circumstances are leading me to do ~~~". A more casual translation would be "It looks like I have to do ~~~."

なる is one of the most under-rated verbs by Japanese-learners. No one can speak Japanese naturally without using it frequently.

"明日から東京へ行くことになりそうです = Looks like I'm going to be in Tokyo starting tomorrow.

It is ことになる. However, there is another construction: Verb-stem+そうだ. It means "looks like" or "seems."

So なるー＞なりそうだ。 Looks like will change.
食べるー＞食べそうだ。 Looks like will eat.
飲むー＞飲みそうだ。Looks like will drink.

明日から東京へ行くことになりそうです = It looks like you/I/he/she/it will [some hint of "must" with the ことになる here] go to Tokyo from tomorrow.

Edit Sashimister beat me!

Thanks to both of you ! I'll try to remember to use なる more often -_^