てごらん (Te goran) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Please Try To Do

Author Anna Baffa Volpe for article 'てごらん (Te goran) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Please Try To Do'

Anna Baffa Volpe

3 min reading time

Updated on 16 September 2023

てごらん (Te goran) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Please Try To Do

The expression てごらん (te goran) means try to do it, please try to, please do.

It is an imperative expression in polite form and the meaning is that of てみる: try to do.

Let's look at the meaning and usage of てごらんい and てごらんなさい, another common form in the daily conversation in Japan.


How てごらん is formed

The kanji transcription of てごらん is てご(らん).

The structure is formed by:

  • the て form of the Verb
  • ご the Honorific Prefix
  • (らん) is the Keigo form of the verb ()see, look, watch

「~てみる」と同じく「試す」という意味を表します. It means try to like ~temiru.

て Form of the Verb+(らん)
japanesegrammar
The Japanese term of ウール is (よう)(もう)

(さわ)てごらん。ウールだよ。

Touch it. It's wool!

てごらん as an invitation to do something

The form てご(らん) is used with the meaning of てみる try to do.

「てごらん」 is a polite form and is used to encourage our interlocutor to do something.

It is an imperative expression and is also used to give an order, so it is not appropriate towards superiors.

It is used, for example, by parents towards their children.

()てごらん

Give it a try and eat!

もう(いち)()やってごらん

Try it again one more time.

てごらんなさい Imperative Form

The structure てごらん followed by なさい is stronger than てごらん and gives more emphasis to what we are asking.

(ぜっ)(たい)できるから、まずは(いち)()やってごらんなさい。

You can definitely do it, so please try it once!

この(きょく)いいよ。()いてごらん。

This song is beautiful. Listen!

Honorific forms of ()

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Double Keigo: is it correct?

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Examples of てごらん

あなたが(おも)うようにやってごらん

Go ahead and do it as you think.

Look at nature this way!
()てごらん: Look at it!

()(ぜん)をこんなふうに()てごらん

Look at nature this way!

ほら、()てごらん。(そら)(にじ)()ているよ。

Look at that! There's a rainbow in the sky.

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