려 하다

try to; be about to

The trimmed form of 으려고 하다, with the 고 gone. It means the same — attempting or being on the point of something — but reads tidier, which is why it turns up in narration and captions: 얼마 남지 않은 시간 초조한 마음을 달래보려 해보지만, 무언가를 찍어보려 했으나... 실패... It also carries a repeated tendency: 아이가 가끔 친구 일을 너무 도와주려 하던데 'my child sometimes tries to help friends too much.'

Register: slightly more written than 으려고 하다