~たらどうですか Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Phrase
Essential Meaning: Why don’t you do X? / How about doing X?
Construction:
- Verb informal past + らどうですか
- E.g. 話したらどうですか [Why don’t you speak?]
- E.g. 食べたらどうですか [Why don’t you eat?]
Notes:
- ~たらどうですか is an idiomatic phrase that expresses a light suggestion (i.e. “Why don’t you do X?“). It is derived from the conjunction ~たら.
- ~たらどうですか can be made informal by simply shortening the phrase to ~たらどう. It can be made polite with ~たらどうでしょう(か), たらいかがですか, or たらいかがでしょう(か).
- E.g. Casual: もっと日本の本を読んだらどう。[Why don’t you read more Japanese books?]
- E.g. Polite: もっと日本の本を読んだらいかがでしょうか。[Why don’t you read more Japanese books?]
- ほうがいい is a similar expression that expresses a strong suggestion (i.e. “You ought to do X.“). ほうがいい is used declaratively, whereas ~たらどうですか is used interrogatively.
- E.g. もっと日本の本を読んだほうがいい。[You ought to read more Japanese books.]
Example Sentences:
もっと日本の本を読んだらどうですか。[Why don’t you read more Japanese books?]
サラダも食べたらどうですか。[Why don’t you eat salad too?]
山村先生に聞いたらどうですか。[Why don’t you ask Yamamura-sensei?]
WILD Examples:
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