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Earlier today my friend and I were looking for a restaurant that someone had
recommended we go to. We couldn't find it, and so my friend suggested I should
check again with the person who recommended the place about where it is
located.

In telling me to check with my other friend, the Japanese friend I was with
said:

> 場所を聞いておく。【ばしょを きいて おく】

My very loose translation is "you should ask [them] the place."

This is a classic case of what I encounter a lot which is that I get the
meaning enough to know what is being asked and how to respond, but I can't
claim to understand _completely_. I don't exactly know what `おく` is doing
here.

I know that `おく`, usually means "to place", as in to put something in a place
and leave it here. However, it also means, "to do in advance".

So I assume it's something like that second meaning being used here, but, if
so, do what in advance of what, exactly? Ask my friend in advance of
attempting to go to the restaurant a second time? That seems logical, but it
also seems like _a lot_ of assumed context and extra information to store in
one verb.

What exactly is `おく` doing when attached to `聞いて`?
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2011-09-04T13:25:22.307
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2011-09-04T14:04:23.667
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verbs
What exactly is おく doing in 聞いておく?
I checked in the dictionary and pulled up one meaning that might fit, out of
about 20 various definitions of おく.

```

    *do sth* anyway; just [simply] *do sth*; *do sth* for the time being.
    
```

So, you could take it as "Anyway, you should ask" , "You should just ask" ,
"For the time being, you should ask".

That said, I don't think this is different than the "do in advance" meaning.
I've always taken ~おく to mean do in advance _for some reason or future
benefit_. The future benefit of asking in advance here would pretty clearly be
to avoid another wild goose chase, wouldn't it?
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2011-09-04T15:31:59.837
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2011-09-05T03:17:59.900
2011-09-05T03:17:59.900
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> I know that おく, usually means "to place", as in to put something in a place
> and leave it here. However, it also means, "to do in advance".

The `～ておく` form means "do something in advance", not just `おく` by itself. But,
yes, this example means "Ask them the place (ahead of time / in advance)".
There's no context for the sentence, but maybe the asker won't see them again,
so he needs to ask now while he has the chance. Or like @rdb said, he should
ask ahead of time instead of blindly trying to find the place and risk getting
lost.
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2011-09-04T17:59:02.270
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