“Can I try these on?”

You're shopping for clothes. You found a pair of pants that look nice, but you want to put them on to see if they fit you. You ask an employee at the store:

Can I try these on?

try on (a piece of clothing)

To "try on" clothes means to put them on in order to see how they look on you. You "try on" clothes when you are shopping. You can also "try on" your clothes at home when you want to decide what to wear.

You say "try on ___" with a noun or noun phrase:

She's trying on a pair of pants.

When you replace the noun with "this", "these", "it", "them", and so on, you say "try ___ on":

Did you try them on?

these

"Pants" is considered plural. So even if you have one pair of pants, you say:

Did you try them on?

Other words that are plural, even when they refer to just one thing, are:

• scissors
• glasses (the kind that you wear)
• shorts