As if to say try and catch me 〜んばかり

Grammar Explanation: As if with 〜んばかり

Kei and Chinatsu watch as their cousin, Makoto, chases a pheasant back and forth across the field. During a break in the chase, Makoto explains her fascination with the bird.

真琴(まこと):: 「常(つね)に届(とど)きそうで届(とど)かない距離(きょり)をキープしてて」; “Constantly seeming like you can reach and keeping a distance you can't...”; 「捕(つか)まえてみろよと言(い)わんばかりの目(め)で見(み)てくるんです」; “It's been looking with eyes as if to say, try and catch me!”; Literal: “It looks at me with eyes as if saying, 'try catching me'.”

Key Points

1〜んばかり describes something almost expressed

言(い)わんばかり means the bird is not literally speaking, but its eyes look as if they are saying something.
The negative-looking わん is an older/literary form of 言わない, used inside this fixed pattern.

2The quoted idea is what the eyes seem to say

「捕(つか)まえてみろよ」 is the taunting message Makoto reads into the bird’s look.
よ gives the imagined challenge a bold, teasing feel.

3見てくるんです adds perceived pressure

見てくる means the look is directed toward Makoto, not just that the bird is looking somewhere.
んです presents this as her explanation for why the chase feels so compelling.

As if to say try and catch me 〜んばかり

Key Points

See Also