I have a doubt about the use of ～てみる

Question

とっさにシートに触ってみたら、ぞっとする程冷たかった。

Does the structure in bold mean: "I have immediately tried to touch the seat"?

Answer 1

I would not translate the structure in bold (触ってみたら) that way.

とっさにシートに触ってみたら、ぞっとする程冷たかった。

First off たら is indeed a conditional and it's key to understanding the construction as a whole.

The latter part means "it was cold enough to make me shiver."

• ぞっとする = to shiver.
• [程]{ほど} is an expression of degree
• 冷たかった = it was cold.

The left hand part means "when i tried to touch the seat"

*シート = either seat or sheet *　触る (here conjugated as 触って) = to touch * ~てみる is a helping verb that means to "try"

I'd actually say とっさに = for a brief moment applies to the entire construction.

So then we get "when I tried to touch the sheet/seat for a moment it was cold enough to make me shiver"