Trying

There are several different ways to try something in Japanese including making an effort toward something, making an attempt at something, and trying something out to see what happens.

Striving for a goal

In order to express "try" as striving toward a goal, we use the same 「よう」 we learned in the last section to describe the manner or appearance of the way we want to act. In this case, we use the verb "to do" and the 「に」 target particle to do toward the manner or appearance of the verb clause.

Example

1. タバコを吸わないようにする。
   Try not to smoke cigarettes (lit: Do toward manner of not smoking).
2. 甘い物を食べないようにしている。
   Trying not to eat sweet things (lit: Doing toward manner of not eating sweet things).
3. もっと運動をするようにしていたけど、すぐあきらめた。
   Was trying to exercise a lot more but soon gave up (lit: Was doing toward manner of doing more exercise but soon gave up).

Making an attempt

The volitional form can also be used to describe an attempt or effort to do a single action. In this case, we use the volitional form followed by 「と」 and the verb 「する」 ("to do").

Example

1. 犬はいつも人の食べ物を食べようとする。
   Dog always tries (attempts) to eat people's food.
2. 休みなのに、両親はどこにも行こうとしないから、つまらないよ。
   Even though (it's a) holiday, (my) parents don't try (make an effort) to go anywhere so (it's) boring.

Experimenting

A third way to express trying (not as a goal or effort) is to do something as an experiment. For example, trying out something for the first time. This grammar is expressed by changing the verb to the te-form and attaching the verb 「みる」 ("to see").

Example

1. 先生に質問を聞いてみる
   Try asking teacher question.
2. 日本料理を食べてみた。
   Tried eating Japanese food.