What does 봐 mean in these sentences? Hi! :) I learned that adding 아/어/여 보다 means "to try". For example "먹어 봐." which is "Try eating." But I have come across some sentences like "이 중에서 골라 봐." But when

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What does 봐 mean in these sentences? Hi! :) I learned that adding 아/어/여 보다 means "to try". For example "먹어 봐." which is "Try eating." But I have come across some sentences like "이 중에서 골라 봐." But when I read the translation it just means "Choose among these." But why is this 봐 here? Does it mean "to try" but just isn't translated into English because it would sound weird? Or does it mean something else? Thank you! :)

Jan 29, 2019 3:58 AM

Answers · 8

Hi Alexandra, I'm not a native speaker but I've lived in Korea for a long time. My take is that '아/어/여 보다' can mean 'to try V' but can also be used to soften a command. '이 중에서 골라' just means 'choose one from among these things', but adding '봐' makes it seem (to me, at least) like less of a direct command. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong so that I can learn the error of my ways!

January 29, 2019

먹어 봐, 만져 봐, 마셔 봐, 골라 봐.... this "봐" come from "보다" basically makes you to try to do something and "see" what's gonna happen. You might like it or hate it, but you won't know until you "try" and "see(not with your eye, though)". So it is used to make a gentle suggestion and also a command in a softer way as Bradley also explained :)

January 29, 2019