No. 232 in Japanese
最近
"Recently" or "lately."
In a sentence
最近、映画館に行っていません。
Recently, I haven't been to the cinema.
In this context, "最近" means "recently" or "lately" and it is used to describe a time period that has occurred shortly before the present.
最近の学生は、スマートフォンをよく使います。
Recent students often use smartphones.
Here, "最近" acts as an adjective meaning "recent" to describe a group or category as related to the present time.
最近は、ポッドキャストを聞くのが好きになりました。
These days, I have come to like listening to podcasts.
In this sentence, "最近" signifies the recent past until now, emphasizing the time frame during which the speaker's preferences have changed.
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