-아/어 보다
a/eo boda
Grammar · 1 sense
to try to do something
Examples
김치를 먹어보세요.
Try eating kimchi.
제가 한번 읽어볼까요?
Shall I try reading it once?
When you'd hear it
This pattern is common in everyday conversation, polite suggestions, instructions, and dramas. The ending is often heard in forms such as 먹어보세요 and 읽어볼까요, including in service encounters and beginner textbooks.
What learners get wrong
It means trying an action, not simply doing it once: 먹어보세요 means “try eating it,” while 한 번 먹으세요 focuses on one occasion. Here, 보다 functions as an auxiliary after the verb stem, not as the main verb “to see.”
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