〜ようとする: Attempting / About To

English hides two very different ideas inside the word try. Try the soup means taste it and see. Try to lift the box means strain against it, maybe without succeeding. Japanese splits these cleanly: the sampling try is 〜てみる, while the effortful try — the one where you push against resistance and might fail — is 〜ようとする. That same construction also means be just about to do something. This page shows why one grammar carries both meanings, and how context tells them apart.

Formation: volitional + とする

Take the plain volitional form of the verb (the "let's / shall I" form) and add とする. If the volitional itself is shaky, work through the mechanics on the volitional + とする reference and the volitional overview first; here we care about what the finished construction means.

The とする part conjugates like any する: past 〜ようとした, negative 〜ようとしない, progressive 〜ようとしている.

Sense 1 — the effortful attempt (that may fail)

When 〜ようとする reports a finished episode — especially followed by が, けど, or のに — it describes an attempt that met resistance, and very often did not succeed. This is exactly the try to of "I tried to stand up (but couldn't)."

Here lies a real difference from English. "I tried to" leaves it unclear whether you succeeded; the listener guesses from context. Japanese leaves the outcome to the next clause — できなかった, 聞いてくれなかった, かかっていた — while 〜ようとした itself only reports that the will was aimed at the action. The construction foregrounds effort against resistance, not the result.

Sense 2 — on the brink ("about to")

Pair 〜ようとする with 時, 瞬間, or ところ, or use it to paint the present instant, and it marks the moment just before an action happens. The action is imminent but has not yet occurred.

That last one carries the deepest lesson. The sun has no will, yet 沈もうとしている is perfectly natural. If 〜ようとする literally meant want to, this would be nonsense. It works because the construction really marks motion oriented toward the action — a trajectory pointed at an endpoint — whether the subject is a person straining to stand or a sun sliding toward the horizon.

One core, two readings

Both senses share a single idea: orient toward X, but X hasn't landed yet. In the effort reading, resistance keeps X from happening; in the brink reading, only a sliver of time keeps X from happening. The surrounding words decide which you get.

In progress: 〜ようとしている

For an attempt happening at this moment — someone learning, struggling, or on the verge — use the progressive 〜ようとしている. This is the natural frame for describing a live scene.

Notice that the baby cannot yet walk and the cat has not yet escaped — the action is aimed at, not achieved. That is the signature of 〜ようとする, and it is why the bare present 歩こうとする would sound generic ("tends to try to walk"); for the here-and-now scene you want 〜ている.

Why not 〜てみる?

Learners reach for 〜てみる far too often, because English "try" pulls them there. But 〜てみる means you carry the action out to sample the result — you did open, taste, or go, and now you know how it went. It cannot describe an action you failed to accomplish. When the very action X did not come off, you need 〜ようとする.

The baby does not walk; the shoes do get worn. Effort-that-may-fail versus do-and-see — that is the whole split.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• 〜ようとする = volitional + とする. Get the volitional right (行く→行こう, 食べる→食べよう, する→しよう, 来る→来よう) before anything else.
• It is the effortful / thwarted try (立ち上がろうとしたが…) and the imminent about to (出ようとした時…) — one core: the will aimed at an action not yet realized.
• Context disambiguates: が／けど = attempt (often failed); 時／瞬間 = brink; 〜ている = attempt in progress.
• Reserve 〜てみる for "do it and see." When the action itself never came off, only 〜ようとする will do.