Trying Formally
“Be as the still mountain; Move like the great river.” – Lao-Tzu
Formal みる is just like any formal verb. Instead of doing dictionary form like we’ve been doing, we do masu form.
みる → みます
Nothing else changes at all. Since みる is the ender of the sentence (or at least a section of a sentence), it can decide whether an entire sentence is formal, or informal. For what we’re doing, this will make the sentence formal.
a にほんご を ならってみる
I will try to learn Japanese (casual)
a にほんご を ならってみます
I will try to learn Japanese
a えいご を おしえてみる
I will try to teach English (casual)
a えいご を おしえてみます
I will try to teach English
a 店の前にまってみました。
I tried to wait in front of the store.
a 海に行ってみませんでした。
I didn’t try to go to the sea.
As long as you’ve been following along up until now, it’s just a matter of changing みる to みます. Now, if your sentence continues and doesn’t end here, chances are you’ll use みる form and then use the last bit of the sentence to decide the formality. For example:
a 「ふらんすご を ならってみる」 と 思った
I thought “I will try to learn French”
The 思った part decides how formal the sentence is (in this case, casual). Let’s move on for now. You’ll see more of this as you continue on.