Hi guys, I have a question about the construction of "not try" to something in Japanese.
To try to do something, is probably best represented by volitional form of verb plus -to suru. So Tabeyou to suru would be "try to eat"
So logically "not try to eat" would be something like "tabeyou to shinai". I think we all come across this construction quite frequently.
However, I have also seen the case of a negative volition + -to suru as "not try". Some grammar books say that the -mai form of verb is negative volitional. Hence, "Tabemai to suru" would probably be translatable into "not try to eat".
So my question is that are both "tabeyou to shinai" and "tabemai to suru" mean exactly the same thing? Or would there be small differences in the nuances?
Thanks
nhk9
To try to do something, is probably best represented by volitional form of verb plus -to suru. So Tabeyou to suru would be "try to eat"
So logically "not try to eat" would be something like "tabeyou to shinai". I think we all come across this construction quite frequently.
However, I have also seen the case of a negative volition + -to suru as "not try". Some grammar books say that the -mai form of verb is negative volitional. Hence, "Tabemai to suru" would probably be translatable into "not try to eat".
So my question is that are both "tabeyou to shinai" and "tabemai to suru" mean exactly the same thing? Or would there be small differences in the nuances?
Thanks
nhk9