Unit 17: To Do In Advance (-아/어/여 놓다/두다)

When you do an action and leave it in that completed state for future use (like preparing something in advance), you use -아/어/여 놓다 or -아/어/여 두다. They are almost entirely interchangeable in Easy Korean!

Structure

Verb Stem + -아/어/여 놓다 (or 두다)

• 열다 (to open) -> 열어 놓다 (to open something and leave it open)
• 사다 (to buy) -> 사 두다 (to buy something in advance for later)
• 예약하다 (to reserve) -> 예약해 놓다 (to make a reservation in advance)

Examples

• 손님이 오기 전에 방을 청소해 놓았어요. (Before the guests arrived, I cleaned the room [and left it clean].)
• 냄새가 나서 창문을 열어 두었어요. (It smelled, so I opened the window [and left it open].)
• 표를 미리 사 놓을게요. (I will buy the tickets in advance.)