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〜ておく do in advance: Meaning & Examples

te oku · JLPT N4

JLPT N413 textsStudy card

〜ておく means “do in advance”. It is a JLPT N4 pattern: below are its construction, the nuances that trip learners up, and the sentences where real Japanese writers use it.

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一枚いちまいStudy card

A free one-page study card for 〜ておく (do in advance), JLPT N4: what it means, how it attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances that trip learners up. Read it right here, or take the PDF or PNG with you. We never ask for an email for this card.

The 〜ておく study card: one A4 page holding the pattern, its JLPT N4 meaning, the construction rules, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuance notes.
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How 〜ておく works

会議の前に資料を読んでおきます is “I’ll read the documents before the meeting.” Attach おく to the て-form. It adds foresight that a plain verb has none of: 読みます says you will read, 読んでおきます says you are reading now because it will save trouble later. In conversation it contracts to 〜とく.

構文こうぶんConstruction

  • Verb (て-form) + おく

    明日の分を準備しておきます。 — I’ll get tomorrow’s ready in advance.

  • Past 〜ておいた — “I’d already taken care of it”

    席を予約しておきました。 — I went ahead and booked a table.

  • Casual contraction 〜とく ・ 〜といた

    買っといたよ。 — I got it for you already.

  • Second sense: leave something in a state

    ドアは開けておいてください。 — Please leave the door open.

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

I’ll read the documents before the meeting.
I went ahead and booked the restaurant.
Please leave the window open.

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

  • Said to a colleague, 言っておきます means “I’ll make sure they hear about it” — the telling is groundwork for something later.
  • Its other sense, leaving something as it is, uses exactly the same form: 電気をつけておく (“leave the light on”). Context does all the separating, and both readings are common.
  • 〜ておいてください is friendly but assumes the other person takes the job on. It reads closer to “get that sorted, would you” than to a neutral please.
  • 〜ておいてよかった (“glad I did that beforehand”) is one of the most useful set phrases built on this form, and a natural way to talk about a near miss.
How 〜ておく differs from similar patterns
  • 〜てしまう — 〜てしまう finishes something off, often with regret or finality; 〜ておく finishes it early, on purpose, for later benefit.
  • 〜てある — 〜てある describes the resulting state and hides who prepared it (書かいてある — “it’s written there”); 〜ておく keeps the person who prepared it in view.
  • てみる — 〜てみる tries something out to see what happens; 〜ておく does something you are already sure about, just earlier than needed.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

List three things you will do today so tomorrow is easier, each with 〜ておきます. Then name one thing you were glad you had done in advance last week, using 〜ておいてよかった.

〜ておく (do in advance) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

— from The Embassy's Cleanup Agency (N1)

— from The Kojiki's Eye Detective Files (N1)

— from The Kowloon Bug (N2)

— from Ranmaru's Picture (N1)

Appears in 13 of 367 texts in our library.

蔵書ぞうしょThe texts

13 texts in the library use 〜ておく

Free to read in full. Furigana over every kanji, a dictionary on any word you tap, and an English breakdown of each sentence.

お住の霊 cover Read お住の霊 The Ghost of the Residence 岡本 綺堂 25 min read · Short Story 夫人利生記 cover Read 夫人利生記 Record of the Lady's Salvation 泉 鏡花 66 min read · Short Story ディカーニカ近郷夜話　後篇 cover Read ディカーニカ近郷夜話　後篇 Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka: The Later Part ゴーゴリ ニコライ 65 min read · Short Story 九龍虫 cover Read 九龍虫 The Kowloon Bug 上村 松園 6 min read · Article 位牌と鼠 cover Read 位牌と鼠 The Memorial Tablet and the Mouse 田中 貢太郎 4 min read · Short Story 蘭丸の絵 cover Read 蘭丸の絵 Ranmaru's Picture 牧野 信一 21 min read · Short Story 紅色ダイヤ cover Read 紅色ダイヤ Red Diamond 小酒井 不木 91 min read · Short Story ブレーメンの町楽隊 cover Read ブレーメンの町楽隊 The Bremen Town Musicians グリム ヤーコプ・ルートヴィッヒ・カール 35 min read · Short Story 手紙　四 cover Read 手紙　四 The Fourth Letter 宮沢 賢治 15 min read · Short Story 昆虫図 cover Read 昆虫図 Insect Diagram 久生 十蘭 12 min read · Short Story 足 cover Read 足 The Foot 豊島 与志雄 36 min read · Short Story 銭形平次捕物控 cover Read 銭形平次捕物控 The Kojiki's Eye Detective Files 野村 胡堂 95 min read · Short Story
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大使館の始末機関 cover Read 大使館の始末機関 The Embassy's Cleanup Agency 海野 十三 66 min read · Short Story

解説かいせつBackground

Where this 〜ておく explanation comes from

〜ておく sits at JLPT N4 in the 302-point taxonomy every text in this library is tagged against. Each text is read for the patterns it contains, which is what lets this page list every text that uses 〜ておく and pull its example sentences out of them.

The example sentences were not written to demonstrate the rule. They are quoted from published Japanese texts in this library (The Embassy's Cleanup Agency and The Kojiki's Eye Detective Files among them), and each one links back to the story it came from, so you can read the sentence where it actually happened.

質問しつもんQuestions

〜ておく: questions & answers

What does 〜ておく add to a verb?

Foresight. The action is done now because it will help later: confirming a booking, charging a phone, telling someone in advance. 電話しておきます means you are ringing ahead so the call is out of the way before it matters.

What is 〜とく?

The spoken contraction of 〜ておく: 買っとく for 買っておく, やっといた for やっておいた. It is casual and extremely frequent in conversation, but keep the full form in writing.

What is the difference between 〜ておく and 〜てある?

〜ておく is the act of preparing, with a person behind it: メモを書いておいた (“I wrote a note in advance”). 〜てある is the state that resulted, with the person left out: メモが書いてある (“there’s a note written”).

Is there a printable 〜ておく cheat sheet?

Yes. A free one-page 〜ておく (do in advance) study card sits at the top of this page, as both a PDF and a PNG. It carries the JLPT N4 meaning, how the pattern attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances learners get wrong. You do not need an account or an email address to download it.

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