〜てみる: Try Doing | Japanese Grammar

English "try" hides two different ideas under one word. Try the soup means taste it and see; try to open the door means make an effort that might fail. Japanese refuses to blur them, and 〜てみる covers only the first: you actually do the action, experimentally, to find out what it's like. This page is about that sampling nuance — when a native reaches for 〜てみる, what feeling it adds, and why it can never describe an attempt you didn't pull off. (For the conjugation table and the full paradigm of forms, see the verb-reference page on 〜てみる; here we focus on the meaning.)

The みる = "see" logic

The auxiliary comes straight from 見る, "to see" — and as an auxiliary it is written in kana (みる), never the kanji. That origin is the whole nuance: with 〜てみる you perform the action with an eye on its result. You don't just do X; you do X and watch how it goes. Sampling, testing, finding out — the outcome is always in view.

この服を着てみてもいいですか。

kono fuku o kite mite mo ii desu ka

May I try this on? (a fitting room — do it and see how it looks)

新しいレストランに行ってみた。

atarashii resutoran ni itte mita

I tried out that new restaurant. (went, to see what it was like)

一度やってみたい。

ichido yatte mitai

I'd like to give it a try, just once. (curiosity about the experience)

In each one the person genuinely wears, goes, does — the action is real. What みる adds is the experimental framing: let's see.

Because 〜てみる only invites you to sample, not to commit, it is the soft, low-pressure way to suggest something. "Give it a try" asks far less of someone than "do it." That is exactly why it is the non-pushy recommendation of choice in Japanese.

よかったら、一口食べてみて。

yokattara, hitokuchi tabete mite

If you like, have a bite and see. (informal — inviting, not pressing)

気になってた本、読んでみることにした。

ki ni natteta hon, yonde miru koto ni shita

I decided to give that book I'd been curious about a read. (a trial, on my own terms)

💡

When you want to recommend something without pressure, 〜てみて / 〜てみたら？ is your best tool. It says "just sample it and see," which lets the other person keep their freedom — much gentler than a bare imperative or the warning-laced 〜たほうがいい.

Sampling pairs naturally with discovery

Since みる keeps the result in view, 〜てみる loves to be followed by what you found out. The classic pairing is with the 〜たら discovery conditional: do X on a trial basis, and then discover the outcome.

このアプリ、使ってみたら、すごく便利だった。

kono apuri, tsukatte mitara, sugoku benri datta

I gave this app a try, and it turned out really handy.

ボタンを押してみた。何も起こらなかった。

botan o oshite mita. nani mo okoranakatta

I pressed the button to see. Nothing happened. (the result, observed)

You can't build these with a mere attempt, because there'd be no action to observe the result of. The discovery reading is the sampling nuance made explicit.

〜てみたい: "I'd love to try…"

Add たい and you get the curiosity/bucket-list flavor — wanting to experience something. Note that this works even for things you can't do yet: the desire is precisely to sample the experience.

いつか宇宙に行ってみたいなあ。

itsuka uchū ni itte mitai nā

Someday I'd love to go to space (and see what it's like). (a wish to experience)

The hard line: 〜てみる is NOT 〜ようとする

This is where nearly every English speaker slips. Because 〜てみる always means the action was carried out — you did it, and みる judges the result — it can never describe an attempt that failed. If you can add "…but I couldn't," you do not want 〜てみる. The struggling, might-not-succeed "try to" is a completely different structure: 〜ようとする (see 〜(よ)うとする: try to / about to).

ボタンを押してみた。

botan o oshite mita

I pressed the button to see (what would happen). (sampling — you pressed it)

ドアを開けようとしたが、開かなかった。

doa o akeyō to shita ga, akanakatta

I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't open. (effortful attempt that failed — ようとする)

💡

Quick test: can the sentence continue "…but I couldn't"? If yes, use 〜ようとする, not 〜てみる. You cannot say 食べてみたけど食べられなかった for "I tried but couldn't eat" — it's self-contradictory, because 食べてみた already tells us you ate.

Register

〜てみる is register-neutral: casual (やってみる), polite (やってみます), gentle suggestion (やってみたらどうですか). Its soft, sampling feel is exactly why it reads as inviting rather than pushy — which is a large part of its everyday usefulness.

Common mistakes

❌ 立ってみたけど、足が痛くて立てなかった。

tatte mita kedo, ashi ga itakute tatenakatta

Contradictory — 立ってみた says you did stand up. For an attempt that failed, use 立とうとした.

✅ 立とうとしたけど、足が痛くて立てなかった。

tatō to shita kedo, ashi ga itakute tatenakatta

I tried to stand, but my leg hurt and I couldn't.

❌ 食べて見る。

tabete miru

Disfavored — as an auxiliary, みる is written in kana; the kanji 見 is only for literal seeing.

✅ 食べてみる。

tabete miru

I'll try eating it (and see).

❌ 新しいレストランに行くみる。

atarashii resutoran ni iku miru

Incorrect — みる attaches to the te-form (行って), not the dictionary form (行く).

✅ 新しいレストランに行ってみる。

atarashii resutoran ni itte miru

I'll try going to the new restaurant.

❌ 一度食べたいみる。

ichido tabetai miru

Wrong order — desire wraps around the outside: 食べてみたい ('want to try eating'), never 食べたいみる.

✅ 一度食べてみたい。

ichido tabete mitai

I'd like to try eating it once.

Key takeaways

te-form + みる = "do X and see" — you actually carry out the action, to find out how it turns out. From 見る, "to see."
It is the sampling / experimental nuance: low commitment, which makes it the soft, non-pushy way to recommend something.
It pairs naturally with discovery (〜てみたら…) — do it, then find out the result.
It can never mean an attempt that failed. For the struggling "try to (and maybe can't)," use 〜(よ)うとする.
Written in kana (みる) as an auxiliary; desire wraps outside it as 〜てみたい.

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