Trying my best to… 「ようにする」

Let’s look at how to say that we are making an effort to do something.

毎日まいにち、日本語にほんごの勉強べんきょうをするようにしています。
I’m trying to study Japanese every day.

We can use ようにする to describe what things we are trying to do as a habit or make sure do to regularly.

Grammar Rules

ように follows the dictionary form of the verb. This verb can be in the positive (trying to do something) or negative (trying not to do something). For example with the verb to eat:

食たべるようにする

食たべないようにする

The tense of the helping verb いる decides the tense of the whole sentence.

Examples

大学生だいがくせいの時とき、毎週まいしゅ10km走はしるようにした。
At university I made sure to run 10km every week.

最近さいきん太ふとったから、これからケーキを食たべないようにしようかな。
I have gotten fat recently so I guess I will try to not eat cake from now on.

Today’s Photo

Today’s photo is from a festival in Shimokitazawa. Shimokitazawa is an awesome place with many small cafes and restaurants. One of the best places in Tokyo!