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頑張って見るよ

What does this mean? To me, it feels like "Try my best and see".

Eddie Kal
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Catdog
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    Where does this line come from? Did you make it up yourself? Or did you see it used somewhere and you took it out of the context and inserted in your question? [Details, please; context, please.](https://japanese.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2189/30454) – Eddie Kal Mar 07 '22 at 19:47

2 Answers2

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(-て)みる is one of the Japanese subsidiary verbs that means "to try V-ing". As a subsidiary verb, the original meaning of "to see" has been lost, at least partly. (Compare how, in English, "have" as in "I have to do" or "go" as in "I'm going to do" has lost its original sense of having or going.) Subsidiary verbs are usually written in hiragana in formal writings, but some people don't pay enough attention to this rule and use kanji anyway.

Note that (-て)みる means "to try V-ing", not "to try to V". See: What is the difference between "verb＋て＋みる" and "verb＋(よ)う+とする"?

So 頑張ってみるよ means "I'll try my best (anyway, and see what happens)". 頑張るよ just means "I'll do my best", and てみる adds the implication that the speaker is not sure about the result.

In non-typical contexts, 見る can be taken literally; "I'll try hard and watch it (e.g., the TV program broadcast at 3 a.m.)". Check the previous context.

naruto
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I don't think it's written with a kanji on みる for those cases.

Nevertheless, てみる means "to try to ". It can be both capability (see if you can do it), or invitational (Just give it a shot to see how it's like).

oldergod
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  • Oh, the way I'm thinking is 頑張って means to try and and then 見るよ means will look. – Catdog Mar 07 '22 at 19:19
  • I cannot think of a context where this makes sense though.The sentence means "try your best", or "give it a shot". – oldergod Mar 07 '22 at 19:38
  • Your interpretation could work if they're like watching something they don't wanna see, horror movie or something, and they're trying to push to other to watch. Unlikely to me though – oldergod Mar 07 '22 at 19:39
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    I think there're some situations where 頑張って見る might actually be used and not be a typo for 頑張ってみる. Like [this one](https://english-no-problem.com/column/post-137/) is clearly an invocation of "to watch" as opposed to "to try": 英語初心者が洋画を字幕無しで頑張って見ても、聞き取れるようにはなりません。 But I think most importantly, OP should add context and details. – Eddie Kal Mar 07 '22 at 19:50