auxiliary N3 common casual
〜てごらん — try ~ing
〜てごらん ・ てごらん
Builds on て形
Meaning
- go ahead and ~ / try ~ing — a gentle, encouraging command, typically from someone older or senior to someone younger
Key sentence
これを食べてごらん。
Go on, try eating this.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb て-form + ごらん (softened ごらんなさい) | Vて + ごらん | 見てごらん / やってごらん |
When: Warm, coaxing tone from a superior to an inferior — parent to child, teacher to pupil. Said to an equal or senior it sounds condescending.
Examples
あそこを見てごらん。虹が出ているよ。
Look over there — there's a rainbow.
難しくないから、自分で考えてごらん。
It's not hard, so try thinking about it yourself.
Easily confused with
てみる てみる plainly states or proposes trying something ('I'll try ~ing'); てごらん is specifically an *instruction* to the listener to give it a go — てみる + the gentle-command ごらん. なさい なさい is a firm parental command ('do it'); てごらん is softer and encouraging — inviting the listener to try rather than ordering them.
Notes
- ごらん is the honorific 御覧 ('look'), so 見てごらん is literally 'try and look'. The full form てごらんなさい is a touch more formal; casually it shortens to 〜てごらん.
See 〜てごらん in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜てごらん the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled from published Japanese grammar references.