5

I've gathered that と思う means to think about but isn't it a little redundant to add the みたい?

彼らに聞いてみたいと思います。

The みたい adds the sense of looking like or seeming but so does 思う so I don't quite understand the combination! Any thoughts?

chocolate
  • 65,531
  • 5
  • 99
  • 204
jacoballens
  • 1,551
  • 7
  • 23

1 Answers1

10

You've gotten the みたい part wrong. What you are seeing is a subsidiary verb (~て)みる, which means "to try doing something (and see what happens)". See: What is the difference between "verb+て+みる" and "verb+(よ)う+とする"? みたい meaning "to seem / look like" never follows a te-form.

  • 聞く "to ask"
  • 聞いてみる "to try asking"
  • 聞いてみたい "to want to try asking"

彼らに聞いてみたいと思います。
(very literally) I think I want to try asking them.
I think I'm going to ask them (and see if that can solve our problem).

You may be still wondering if ~たい and と思う are similar and thus redundant, but it's a common way to say one's plan or wish. See: 〜たいと思う -- What does this mean? and Different ways to show intention to do something

naruto
  • 313,860
  • 13
  • 324
  • 625