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

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!'.

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)

mrnoone

English translation:
in that way
exactly
just as

Structure:
Verb + とおり
Verb[ た ] + とおり
Noun + どおり / とおり
Noun + の + とおり

View on Bunpro
flowsnake
Is there a way to tell when to use each of the two noun structures?
ljoekelsoey
合格者は次つぎ のとおり です。

Those who passed are just as follows… ( precisely )

Can I ask does anyone else find this English to be quite bizarre? I’ve never come across the word just being used this way before, I was wondering perhaps is this a UK/US difference?
mrnoone
@ljoekelsoey

I have changed the translation to “as follows”
ljoekelsoey
Should I take that to mean that American’s don’t say “just as follows”? I’m just wondering if it is something I need to add to my ‘stuff-americans-say-weird’ list…
koko191
I’m disappointed that there’s no 計画どおり with the translation (Just according to keikaku, keikaku means plan)
Johnathan-Weir
I can’t say I’ve heard “just as follows” but “as follows” is used. Though if you said the first I don’t think anyone would be confused by it.
Johnathan-Weir
Dvk
You are writing in the structure section that there is a possibility where “Noun + とおり” could occur, but my teacher said he couldn’t think of any sentence where that would work. There is no example sentence as well. Is this just not possible or does someone have an example?
mrnoone
@Dvk
It was an error, I have fixed it. Thank you for pointing it

Sorry for the inconvenience!
Dvk
Thanks for the quick response. Maybe the sentence “[どおり is more prevalent after a noun than とおり, especially when following kanji compounds (契約, 計画, 予定)]” would than be unnecessary, too?
Daru
It’s been updated!
testing

Johnathan-Weir:
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
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
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.