Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 1: 22/23

てご(らん)(Please) try to, (Please) look

Structure

Verb[て]+ ごらん
Verb[て]+ ごらんなさい

Details

  • Standard

About てごらん

てご(らん) is an honorific language expression in Japanese that is used in a similar way to なさい. It is usually translated as 'please try to (A)', where (A) is the verb that ご(らん) is connected to, through the use of the conjunction particle て.

However, despite being translated as 'please try to (A)', the literal meaning of (らん) is 'to look', or 'to peruse' (to look at one's own leisure, without needing to rush). Due to this, てごらん can be thought of as being quite similar to てみる 'to try', but with the added emphasis of 'try as you like, when it suits you'.

Caution

As ご(らん) is honorific language, it cannot be used to refer to your own actions, or things that you will 'try'. It will only ever be used to make suggestions to other people about what they should try.

Caution

Sometimes ごらん and なさい will be paired together. This slightly increases the strength of the suggestion, and may be perceived as a very light command. Because of this, ごらんなさい is primarily used by superiors/elders, when requesting that a subordinate/younger person try something.


Antonyms



Vocab Coverage

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Examples

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  • その景色(けしき)()てごらん

    (Try to) take a look at that scenery.

  • ニュースを()てごらん。あなたが(うつ)っているよ。

    (Try to) take a look at the news. You are on TV.

  • あの蝶々(ちょうちょう)(つか)まえてごらんなさい

    Try to catch that butterfly.

  • ()()してごらん手袋(てぶくろ)をはめてあげるから。

    (Try to) give me your hands. I will put your gloves on.

  • もう一度(いちど)やってごらん。きっとうまくできるよ。

    Try it once more. I know you can do it.

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てごらん – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (4 in total)

  • nekoyama

    nekoyama

    なさい in general isn’t normally used with people of higher status. It’s originally respectful language, but so is 食べる, so that alone doesn’t mean much.

    Nowadays なさい is typically used by parents or teachers etc. (outside some set expressions like おやすみなさい or ごめんなさい that have their own rules).

    ごらん sounds more fancy than みて so people who like fancy language, i.e. old people, might prefer it for that reason.

    Also keep in mind that this is a way to give commands. You have to be in a position to give commands to use it.

  • rwmleach

    rwmleach

    I’m curious why it’s considered “honorific language” but all of the example sentences use plain form.

    Why is it 外を見てごらん。虹が出ているよ and not 外を見てごらん。虹が出ていますよ ?

  • casual

    casual

    てごらん(なさい) is a politer version of てみなさい, and even though it’s softer, it’s still a command (imperative form). In modern Japanese, you wouldn’t use commands and 丁寧語 (ます forms) towards the same person, typically.

    If the situation allows commands (parent->child etc), then plain speech is natural.
    If the situation calls for 丁寧語, you’d rephrase suggestions to try doing something to ~してみたらどうですか. And in case of this example sentence specifically, to just 外を見てください.

    I’m not well-versed in the topic enough to say how sonkeigo-commands like ご覧なさい were used and evolved historically.

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