～てみる

How it works

Attach みる to the て-form of a verb and the action turns into an experiment: you do it in order to see what happens or what it is like. 食べる is “eat”; 食べてみる is “give it a taste”. The verb is written in kana because it no longer means looking with your eyes.

• Plain: 行ってみる, past 行ってみた, negative 行ってみない
• Polite: 行ってみます／行ってみました
• Request: 行ってみてください — please give it a try
• Wish: 行ってみたい — I’d like to try going, softer and more tentative than 行きたい (this is みる + たい, not the みたい of 雨みたい “looks like rain”)
• Permission: 着てみてもいいですか — may I try it on?

みる is an ichidan verb and conjugates like 見る: みます, みた, みない, みれば. Only actions you control take ～てみる: you can 聞いてみる or 使ってみる, but rain cannot 降ってみる. In shops, restaurants and conversation it also softens things: 食べてみてください is friendlier than a flat 食べてください.

Examples

• この服を着てみてもいいですか。（この ふく を きて みて も いい です か）— May I try this on?
• 駅前の新しい店に行ってみました。（えきまえ の あたらしい みせ に いって みました）— I went to check out the new shop in front of the station.
• 一度、納豆を食べてみてください。（いちど、なっとう を たべて みて ください）— Please try natto at least once.
• 日本語で電話をかけてみたいです。（にほんご で でんわ を かけて みたい です）— I’d like to try making a phone call in Japanese.
• 分からなかったら、先生に聞いてみます。（わからなかったら、せんせい に きいて みます）— If I don’t understand, I’ll try asking the teacher.
• その本、読んでみたけど、難しかった。（その ほん、よんで みた けど、むずかしかった）— I tried reading that book, but it was hard.

Compare with

～ようとする

This is the real “attempt” form: 起きようとした means you made the effort to get up, whether or not you managed. 起きてみた means you did get up, to see how it felt. Use ようとする when the action may have failed, てみる when it happened as a test.

～ておく

Both attach to the て-form and both are written in kana, but ておく does something now for a future purpose (予約しておく), while てみる does it to discover the outcome (予約してみる: try booking and see if there is space).

～たい ・ ～てみたい

食べたい is a direct “I want to eat it”. 食べてみたい is “I’d like to give it a try”, hedged and curious, which is why it is the safer choice when talking to people you do not know well.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• Spanish intentar／tratar de, French essayer de and English try to describe an attempt that may never succeed; ～てみる means you actually did it to see the result. “Intenté levantarme pero no pude” is ✓ 起きようとしたけど起きられなかった, not ✗ 起きてみたけど起きられなかった, which contradicts itself.
• Spanish probar and French goûter／essayer are stand-alone verbs, so learners write ✗ スープを試す or ✗ 靴を試す; 試す is for testing whether something works (方法を試す, 薬を試す), not for sampling. Japanese attaches みる to the specific action: ✓ スープを飲んでみる, ✓ 靴を履いてみる, ✓ 新しい店に行ってみた.
• Because English speakers hear “see”, they write the kanji: ✗ 食べて見る. As an auxiliary it is always kana, ✓ 食べてみる; 見る in kanji means literally looking, as in テレビを見る.