Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 9: 18/22

通(とお)りIn that way, Exactly, Precisely, Just as

Structure

Verb［る］(1) + とおり
Noun + どおり
Noun + の + とおり

(1) Verb［た］

Details

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About とおり

Often, the noun とおり carries the meaning of 'in that way', or 'just like that'. In its kanji form, とおり will be written as 通(とお)り, and literally means 'street', or 'way'. However, it is regularly used to indicate the level of 'sameness' one thing has with another. This 'sameness' meaning appears when とおり is used as a suffix.

とおり (or どおり) may be used with verbs or nouns. In the case of verbs, it is common to see it being used after both the plain form, and the simple-past form.

Both どおり and のとおり may be used directly after nouns. However, とおり will only be used when the case marking particle の comes between the noun and とおり.

While both of these structures may be used interchangeably, どおり is more common, especially in speech.

Fun Fact

Constructions like 言(い)った通(とお)り and その通(とお)り are used very frequently, simply as a polite way to agree with what has been said by another. In these cases, it translates similarly to 'that's exactly right', or 'that's it!'.

Related

Misc.

Examples

--:--

    思(おも)った通(とお)りでした。

    It was just as I thought.

    あなたのおっしゃる通(とお)りです。

    It will be precisely/just as you say.

    合格者(ごうかくしゃ)は次(つぎ)の通(とお)りです。

    Those who passed are as follows... (Precisely)

    お察(さっ)しの通(とお)り、彼(かれ)は病気(びょうき)です。

    Exactly/Just as you may guess, he is quite ill.

    物事(ものごと)はいつも計画(けいかく)通(どお)りにはいかないものだなぁ。

    Things will not always go precisely/exactly as planned.

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とおり – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (15 in total)

  • xuzab

    xuzab

    Hi there! This sentence is really tripping me up:
    物事はいつも計画どおりにはいかないものだなぁ。

    Can someone walk me through what the には is doing? I guess I would’ve expected something more like 物事はいつも計画どおりいかないものだなぁ。

  • Pablunpro

    Pablunpro

    Hi!

    Indeed, the role of には is a recurrent question, here is the grammar point on this particle combination. In this sentence, there is also the ものだ structure, a construction used to highlight information that is considered obvious.

    So, it would be like saying, literally, “Everybody knows that, in regard to things, they don’t always go according to plan”.

  • Victoria43

    Victoria43

    Hi! I was going through Sou matome N3 page 55, and there there was a sentence 私が今から言うの通りに書いてください。I am wondering if it’s okay to use の after the verb. In the textbook it is marked as a correct one.

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