Structure
Verb[て]+ おく
Verb[て] +とく
Details
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Standard
Rare Kanji
置く
About ておく
When the conjunction particle て is followed by the う-Verb 置く in Japanese, it regularly has the meaning of 'to do (A) in advance'. 置く as a verb itself means 'to place something' (down), but also has the nuance 'to leave something alone', or to 'drop something' (like a topic). In this way, ておく can be thought of as meaning 'to do (A) and leave it (until later)'.
When using ておく, the 'future event' that the (A) action is being done for may be something that is coming soon, or may be something that the speaker doesn't want to ever come. Due to this, ておく is also regularly used when the speaker is doing something specifically to prevent another thing from happening.
Caution
ておく is sometimes contracted to とく (or どく in verbs where て would usually be said as で). Although this is not excessively common in conversation, it is very common in drama, manga, and similar media.
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机の上に明日の旅行に必要なパスポートを置い とくね。I am going to leave the passport we need for the trip tomorrow on top of the table in advance. (So that I won't forget it later)
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水筒に水を汲んどくね。I am going to fill this thermos up with water in advance. (So that it is available when I am thirsty)
Synonyms
Examples
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ここにリモコンを置いておくね。
I will put the remote here (in advance for future use).
ちょっと調べておきます。
I will do a little research in advance.
帰ってくるのが遅くなるから、ご飯を作っておいた。
I won't get home until late, so I made food in advance.
今夜明日のお弁当を作っておいてくれますか?
Will you make tomorrow's bento (in advance) for me tonight?
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Online
How to use Vておく
MaggieSensei
ておく / とく [video]
Japanese Ammo with Misa
Offline
Genki II 1st Edition
Page 55
みんなの日本語 II
Page 36 [CH 30]
Genki II 2nd Edition
Page 80
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 357
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
Page 120
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ておく – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (37 in total)
Superpnut
@nekoyama @EbonyMidget
You both have very cool names, almost as cool as my username.
Thank you for explaining that to me I wasn’t sure. I did think it’d just make the sentence directly incorrect but I wanted to check with people
ありがと~~~HaroldoNVU
ixxie
Hello, I’m really struggling to get this grammar nailed down.
This is the example sentence:冷蔵庫で__________コーラを二つください。(冷やす)
Could I have two of the colas that were being chilled (in advance) in the refrigerator?How do I know which form to conjugate first for the answer? Does ている or ておく get added to 冷やす first?
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