When you want to recommend something to your Japanese friend, how can you do this in Japanese?

You can use てみる (temiru) for it, so I will teach you what てみる is.

When you finish reading this article, you will be able to use てみる.

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What is てみる?

We use “てみる” when a person tries something a little to see if he or she likes it.

Conjugation

te form +みる

If you don’t know what te form is, please read this article first.

Learning Japanese conjugation te form

Let’s see some examples.

(ex1)

A: ねえねえ、なっとう食べたことある?

Have you ever had nattou?

B: いいえ、まだありません。

No, I haven’t.

A: じゃあ、こんどたべてみてよ。

Try to eat it next time.

In this case, Aさん doesn’t know if Bさん has ever eaten nattou.

Therefore, Aさん tells Bさん to try to eat nattou.

たべてみて is the short form of たべてみてください。

This sentence compounds たべてみる+ください.

If you don’t know what ください is, please read this article.

What is te kudasai? -Japanese grammar-

(ex2)

A: このようふくにあうと思う?

Do you think these clothes would look good on me?

B: しちゃくしてみたら?

How about trying it on?

A: そうだね。

You’re right.

*しちゃく means “try on”.

In this case, Aさん wants to buy clothes, but they don’t know if it would fit them.

That’s why Aさん asks Bさん if it fits them.

Bさん tells them to try it on to know if it fits them.

In this case, you can use てみる.

Note1

Please keep it in your mind that みる is written in hiragana.

It isn’t て見る.

If you write てみる as て見る, the meaning changes.

For example, if you write なっとうを食べて見る, it means “I eat nattou and then watch it”.

How do you watch nattou while you eat nattou?

You should write てみる as hiragana.

Note2

てみる means try a little to see if you like it.

Therefore, you can’t use てみる if you try many things.

(ex)

If you tell your friends to read every book written by an author, you can’t use てみる.

For instance, if you recommend books written by Haruki Murakami, you can’t say that むらかみはるきの本をぜんぶ読んでみてください, which means please read all of the books written by Haruki Murakami.

You can say that むらかみはるきの本をいっさつ読んでみてください, which means please read one of the books written by Haruki Murakami.

Conclusion

We use “てみる” when a person tries something a little to see if he or she likes it.

Conjugation

te form +みる

Exercise

① おんせんに(はいります→ )みたいです。

② ゴジラを(見ます→ )みたいです。

③ 日本に(行きます→ )みたいです。

④ くもの上で(ねます→ )みたいです。

⑤ ビートルズのきょくをライブで(ききます→ )みたいです。

Answer

① おんせんに(はいります→はいって)みたいです。

② ゴジラを(見ます→見て)みたいです。

③ 日本に(行きます→行って)みたいです。

④ くもの上で(ねます→ねて)みたいです。

⑤ ビートルズのきょくをライブで(ききます→きいて)みたいです。

If you have questions, please comment below.

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