ておく / とく
- 1To do something beforehand in preparation for a future event or need.Ex. 1
- 2To do something and leave the resulting state as it is, often for a purpose.Ex. 2
- 3To leave a person or thing alone without changing the situation.
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ておく is neutral and common in both speech and writing, while the contracted とく/どく is casual and conversational. It often appears when talking about preparation, plans, or deliberate arrangements. Unlike てある, which focuses on a state that already exists, ておく focuses on the agent's purposeful action. The adverb あらかじめ often combines with it.
Learners sometimes contract でおく as でとく; the correct casual form is どく, as in 読んどく.
Do not use the contracted とく/どく in formal writing or polite business situations; use ておく instead.
- てあるN4「てある」describes the resulting state left behind after someone has deliberately done something; it attaches only to transitive verbs, and its object usually takes 「が」. 「ておく」, by contrast, refers to the act of doing itself — 「掃除しておく」means to go do the cleaning, while 「掃除してある」means the cleaning has already been done.
- ままN4「まま」is close to the second sense of 「ておく」, but it only indicates that a state stays unchanged and does not require intention; it attaches to た形, ない形, adjectives, and nouns, and can also indicate performing the following action while in that state. 「ておく」attaches to て形 and stresses that the action is done deliberately.
- あらかじめN1「あらかじめ」is an adverb meaning 'in advance'; it is close only to the 'advance preparation' sense of 「ておく」and is often used together with it. Its tone is more formal, and it can also be used directly in requests, as in 「あらかじめご了承ください」.
- ようにするN4「ておく」attaches to て形 and means deliberately doing something in order to prepare, maintain a state, or handle something for the time being. 「ようにする」attaches to 辞書形, ない形, or 可能形 and means to make a conscious effort or to manage to bring about a certain state; the two generally cannot be interchanged.
ておく stresses deliberately doing something for later, whereas てある describes a resulting state that someone prepared, and まま describes an unchanged state without a preparatory purpose. あらかじめ is only an adverb meaning 'beforehand' that often accompanies ておく, while ようにする expresses making an effort or habit toward an outcome rather than a single preparatory action.
