Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
Wild Nihongo!
ておく

ておく

ておく Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Auxiliary Verb

Essential Meaning: Do X in advance / Do X as preparation / Do X for future convenience

Construction: 

  • Verb て-Form + おく
    • E.g. 話はなしておく [Speak in advance / Speak for future convenience]
    • E.g. 食たべておく [Eat in advance / Eat for future convenience]

Notes:

  • As a main verb, おく means “To put” or “To place“. But as an auxiliary verb, ておく means “To do X in advance and deliberately leave it in its current state for future convenience or in preparation for some future event“.
  • When the main verb is in the causative form, ておく expresses the idea of deliberately letting someone or something remain in a certain state for some reason (e.g. “Let X remain asleep“). The reason for letting X do Y should be specified if it is not clear from context, because otherwise the causative sentence may be interpreted as forcing X to do Y.
    • E.g. クリスは疲つかれているからしばらく寝ねさせておこう。[Because Chris is tired, let’s let her sleep for a bit.]
    • E.g. 飲のみたいというのなら好すきなだけ飲のませておきなさい。[If he says he wants a drink, let him drink as much as he likes.]
    • E.g. *私わたしはボブにビルを飲のませておいた。[I made Bob drink beer. / I let Bob drink beer.] Without specifying a reason for letting X do Y, it’s ambiguous whether the causee is being permitted to do X or being forced to do X.
  • ておく is often contracted to とく in spoken Japanese.
    • E.g. 見みておく becomes 見みとく
    • E.g. 読よんでおく becomes 読よんどく

Example Sentences:

明日あしたパーティーをするのでビールを買かっておいた。[Because I’m having a party tomorrow, I bought beer in preparation.]

今日きょうは昼ひるに客きゃくが来くるので昼ひるごはんを早はやめに食たべておいた。[Because a customer will come in the afternoon today, I ate lunch on the early side for the sake of convenience.]

来年らいねん日本にほんへ行いくから少すこし日本語にほんごを勉強べんきょうしておきます。[Because I’m going to Japan next year, I’m studying a bit of Japanese in preparation.]

WILD Examples:

The first line of this song goes: お前まえ嫁よめにもらう時ときに言いっておきたいことがある [Before I receive you as my wife, there’s something I’d like to tell you in advance.] ておく is also used imperatively in the following line: かなり厳きびしい話はなしもするが、俺おれの本音ほんねを聴きいておけ [I’m going to tell you something quite severe, but please listen to my true feelings.]
Listen to this line at 2:12: おしゃれな夜よるの街まち写うつしておけ、光ひかりも適当てきとうにボカしとけ、意味深いみしんに果物くだもの持もっとけ、そしてケーキを画面がめんに打ぶつけとけ [Photograph a fashionable evening street, make sure the light has proper bokeh, hold a piece of fruit that has a profound meaning, and on top of that throw a cake at your face.] There are multiple informal usages of ておく in this example. The idea is that these are things that one should do in order to create a good music video.
Listen for this line at 2:12: 準備じゅんびをしておけ、歴史れきしに残のこる悪巧わるたくみに [Prepare yourselves in advance, to make history with our sinister tricks] The name of this song in Japanese is 準備じゅんびしておけ [Be Prepared].
Listen to this line from 0:30: 勉強べんきょうはしないよりもしておいたほうがいいわ[Rather than not studying, you had better study.]
Listen to this line at 2:00: さようならすることになるなら、もっと優やさしくしとけばよかった [If it’s the case that this is goodbye, I wish I had treated you more kindly.] Apparently the singer’s girlfriend is the one who made the decision that they would part ways.

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