Vocabulary dictionary

Kanji dictionary

Grammar dictionary

Sentence lookup

test
 


Be about to A; Try to A
   した          
I tried to go to sleep, but the smartphone rang.
32
           した           なって            
I was about to answer the teacher's question, but I suddenly got embarrassed and couldn't say anything.
21
        した                    
I was about to take a bath, but my friends suddenly came over so I couldn't.
17
その           しました  
The small dog tried to get away.
12
ジェーン  まさに        していた  
Jane was about to leave the house.
11
あなた    しよう  している      
What are you trying to do?

Getting the sentences
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
AVerb: Volitional
する
Basic Examples:
けようする (be about to phone (someone))

Related Expressions
V-ようとしている
Where this grammar is found


User notes
avatar
Stupie
Level: 86
(8 months ago)

V လုပ်ဖို့ပြင်တယ်

  • လုပ်ဖို့တော့ပြင်တယ် အကောင်အထည်တော့မပေါ်ဘူး
    • ညတုန်းက ဖုန်းဆက်ဖို့လုပ်သေးတယ် / တောင်းပန်ဖို့ ကြိုးစားပါသေးတယ်
0
avatar
shirothekiller
Level: 1
(12 years ago)
the nuance of this grammar is that the speaker tried/try to do but is not successful
26

Discussion about this grammar
avatar
Diamondrock
Level: 1
Mysteriously enough, the main grammar page shows that this grammar point has a model sentence, but it's not actually found on this page.
0
15 years ago
Report Content
avatar
マイコー
Level: 256
Fixed!
0
15 years ago
Report Content
avatar
Level: 1
For some reason, the title of this thread is popping up as ようとる.

Edit: I just looked it up in my dictionary, and apparently the verb する really does have this kanji, but I have never seen it used even in literature.
0
14 years ago
Report Content
avatar
マイコー
Level: 256
Yea - I knew a few kanji like this were going to show up. Fixed this term (する), but let me know if you see it happening with other pages. Thanks!
0
14 years ago
Report Content
avatar
ちゃん
Level: 1
Is this used most often in the past tense, as in "was about to"? In contrast with ところ that is.
2
13 years ago
Report Content
avatar
dajkalaszlo20
Level: 1
Nice site! Thank you for making it possible:) I have just came across this grammar in a sentence in a novel by Yoshimoto Banana. But I cannot get the sense of this structure with the verb う. The sentence is like the following 'だからこれはってているきだとおうとした。' Can I translate it literally? Like "I tried/was about to think about..." or "I was about to think that..."?
0
9 years ago
Report Content
avatar
マイコー
Level: 256
That would be my guess, but I imagine it might become a bit easier to decipher with the following sentences. If the subject was about to think something like you're guessing, I'd think something might come up next that would make them think otherwise.
0
9 years ago
Report Content
avatar
Dabas
Level: 17
What is the difference between ようにする and ようとする? They both seem to mean "try to A", but I do not understand the difference
1
6 years ago
Report Content
avatar
マイコー
Level: 256
ようとする focuses on the timing aspect, that is, something is about to happen. Often used to contrast it with something that starts afterwards (and stops whatever action was going to take place).
0
6 years ago
Report Content
avatar
VorpalPlayer
Level: 1360
Pet peeve here. This よう reads the same as ようになる. However, it's not よう, it's the Volitional Form of the verb. The way the definition is presented is confusing, and I keep missing these grammar questions because I am looking for よう, not the volitional form.
3
6 years ago
Report Content
avatar
Posad
Level: 1

Re-upping on what VorpalPlayer said, this should really be marked as とする or maybe V-とする. Too easily confused with the actual use of よう.

1
4 years ago
Report Content
avatar
マイコー
Level: 256

I must have missed that when it was first posted! Just updated the name on the page. Thanks for pointing it out.

1
4 years ago
Report Content
avatar
|マルコ|
Level: 110

can I suggest changing the "(About to) try to A" part of the meaning into "try to A" ?
The reason being that the "Be about to A;" meaning already shows that usage so the "(About to)" in parenthesis in the second meaning seems redundant, and also the example sentence below in which "tried to" fits better than "about to try to"

ゴミ、てようとたけど、だったよ。
I tried to throw away the trash, but the trash can was full.

1
2 years ago
Report Content
avatar
マイコー
Level: 256

Done!

1
2 years ago
Report Content
avatar
stupidguy
Level: 182

related grammar:

ようとしている "Shows change/movement A is about to start/end" https://www.renshuu.org/grammar/674/ようとしている

0
1 year ago
Report Content



Loading the list
Lv.

Sorry, there was an error on renshuu! If it's OK, please describe what you were doing. This will help us fix the issue.

Characters to show:





Use your mouse or finger to write characters in the box.
■ Katakana ■ Hiragana