How to say “I will shorten my long hair” in Japanese using V-ようにします

Expressing “To try to / to make sure that” in Japanese  

Hello everyone welcome to another incredible online Japanese lesson from Bondlingo. We can see that you are all revved up and ready to go today and boy do we have a lesson for you. Today we are going to be learning all about ようにします (You ni shimasu) in Japanese. This is such a practical piece of grammar that you will be able to start using straight away which means “to try to” or “to make sure that”. 

We are going to break today’s lesson down into the following sections:

1. We will introduce today’s grammar and take a look at the meaning behind it.
2. We will look at how the grammar of ようにします is formed and how you can make sentences of your own.
3. We will look at a host of example sentences using you ni shimasu to enable you to get a deep understanding on the grammar across a bunch of different contexts
4. We will teach you an effective study technique to ensure that you will have mastered ようにします within just 3 days
5. A small summary of the lesson to make sure you haven’t missed any vital information and you can review notes.

We are really excited about this one and can’t wait for you to learn something new today. Grab your notebook, a cup of coffee and switch on your brain. Let’s get right into it. 

What does ようにします mean? 

Let’s look at the foundations of the meaning. 

So what does you ni shimasu mean? Well it actually has two meanings

The first is the meaning of “try to” for example you could say things like “I will try to remember” or “I will try to be there” 

The second is the meaning of “To make sure to”. For example, “I will make sure to remember” or “I will make sure to be there” 

“To try to do something” and “To make sure to do something” are of course varying degrees of intent so it will just depend on the context and vigour you use when expressing this in speech.

This grammar is obviously going to be a real game changer in your Japanese as it adds a whole new dimension to expressing intent. 

You can use this form with both negative and positive forms. Let’s look at this now within the next sections and break down the grammar to allow you to start building sentences. 

How do i form  V-ようにします sentences? 

A deeper look into forming the grammar. 

So how do we form ようにします sentences? Thankfully, it is super simple to use. It is used after a plain form verb either in its positive or negative form. Let’s look at the graph below to see an example. 

Positive	たべるようにします	Taberu you ni shimasu	Try to eat
Negative	たべないようにします	Tabenai you ni shimasu	Try not to eat

As you can see you don’t have to do much conjugating or complex tricks to start implementing this in your Japanese. Simply add it after a verb.

With the します verb at the end of your sentence you can conjugate that into the past しました like a normal “shimasu” verb and can also use する when you want to be more casual. 

Here is an example sentence to show you how the grammar works. 

僕の長い紙を短くにするようにします
Boku no nagai kami wo mijikaku ni shimasu
I will make sure to shorten my long hair

As you can see here we simply added ようにします after みじかくする to express out intent. 

Now we are going to look at some more examples to help you wrap your head around things in different scenarios.

Example sentences using V-ようにします

Let’s deepen our understanding through a multitude of different examples 

Perhaps you are in class and you want to affirm to your teacher that your intent is to remember a piece of information.

それをおぼえるようにします
sore o oboeru you ni shimasu
I'll be sure to remember that.

Here する has been used to indicate that it’s much more of a casual nuance. 

きょうはやくおきるようにする。
Today hayaku okiru you ni suru.
I'll try to wake up early today.

In this sentence the speaker talks about their intent to drink more water. What a great idea! It is often used when you are wanting to start new habits etc.

あしたからもっとみずをのむようにします。
Ashita kara motto mizu wo nomu you ni shimasu
From tomorrow i will drink more water 

You can also use this with negative sentences by using the plain form negative like so.

さとうをたべないようにします
Satou wo tabenai you ni shimasu
I will try not to eat sugar 

So now that you have a fair few examples under your belt you should be getting a real feel for how the grammar works and how useful it can be. Let’s now look at a technique you can use to start practicing with the grammar. 

How can i remember and apply today’s grammar? 

An effective study technique to master the art of ようにします

1. First explain how ようにします works to someone else. Explaining how something works to another person will help your brain digest the information better.
2. Practice reading the example sentences every day to get yourself more used to the patterns
3. Come up with your own sentences each day for the next 3 days. This will ensure that you master today’s grammar.

A small summary of today’s lesson. 

An overview to ensure mastery of ようにします

Here is a quick review of today’s lesson. 

ようにします means to try do something or to make sure to do something.

It is used after verbs in the plain form and can be both positive or negative forms.

The します at the end of the sentence can be conjugated to past, continuous or made more informal with the dictionary form する

Remember to use today’s learning technique to master it.

We really hope you guys have enjoyed today’s online Japanese lesson and we can’t wait to see you again in the next one. Never give up! 頑張りましょう。

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