Natural spoken Japanese · 10 minutes · 0010

取り置く

The item already exists in the shop. Ask staff to remove it from the ordinary sales flow and keep it for your later arrival.

1 · Natural input · about 3 minutes

夕方まで残してもらう

Read once for the item’s location, then aloud as customer and clerk. On the second pass, track whether the item is present now or must come from somewhere else.

Notice: The navy jacket is physically present, so it can be . The gray one is absent, so it must be . The verbs encode different inventory movements.

Recall: Which jacket can the customer see today, and what would have to happen before they could see the other one? Answer in Japanese before continuing.

2 · Lexical neighborhood + retrieval · about 4 minutes

Where is the item now?

Picture the shop’s available stock as a moving stream. With , staff take one existing item out of that stream and keep it separate for a particular customer. Shogakukan defines 取り置く as setting something aside or keeping it apart.

Official retailer guidance also separates these operations: MUJI describes an item transferred between stores as , while its pickup service uses once an item has been prepared for a named customer.

ExpressionInventory pictureNatural package
An existing item is set aside for later pickup.
Something is kept or saved generally; not specifically retail.
An absent item is caused to come from elsewhere.
A future service, place, or supply is arranged in advance.
Stock arrives into the shop or market.

Retrieve 1 · Follow the stock

Use , changing the form as needed.

The first item is present and separated; the second travels; the third is arranged before release; the fourth arrives; the fifth is simply saved.

Retrieve 2 · Generic to natural

Make this request sound like an ordinary shop inquiry:

names the shop operation; makes the request appropriately polite without explaining the operation generically.

Retrieve 3 · Present or absent?

Ask staff to hold the black item that is in the store, then ask whether the absent gray one can be brought from another branch.

First separate existing stock; then request movement of absent stock.

3 · Naturalness check · about 1 minute

Do not reserve what is already in your hand

is possible in some store systems, especially before release. When one present item is being held until pickup, states the physical operation more precisely.

Staff cannot set aside an item that is not there. First bring it into the store’s stock with .

4 · Speaking retrieval · about 2 minutes

Call a bookstore before making the trip

Take 20 seconds for cue words, then speak for 60–90 seconds. Use plus at least two of .

  1. Ask whether one copy of a book is currently in the shop.
  2. If present, ask staff to hold it until tomorrow evening.
  3. If absent, ask whether another branch can send one.
  4. Ask when it would arrive.
  5. Confirm your name, pickup time, and next action.
I’ve spoken — show one model

Ask me a follow-up question or send your spoken version for feedback. Seeing the model is not evidence of mastery; repeat later with shoes, a cake, or an item awaiting its release date.