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悪質かは置いといて今日は集まり悪いですね。

This "question + は置いといて" looks like a common construction based on Google results but I can't find an explanation of it.

But my guess from staring at it long enough and considering the "putting aside" meaning of 置く is that this perhaps means:

Putting aside the question of whether I'm being a jerk, today's gathering is bad, isn't it.

Is that correct?

Aurast
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  • I'm fairly certain 置いといて is simply a contraction of 置いておいて. Are you familiar with ～ておく? It is fairly common to contract it to ～とく in colloquial or rapid speech. – Angelos Mar 16 '16 at 02:33
  • @Nothing Yup I'm aware of that. – Aurast Mar 16 '16 at 02:40

1 Answers1

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Yes, ～は置いといて = ～は置いておいて = Putting aside ～.

There are two 置く, and the second 置く works as a subsidiary verb. That's not uncommon.

This 悪質か does not mean "whether I am being a jerk", but means "whether or not this is out of malice", "whether or not they have a good reason for not coming", etc.

Community
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naruto
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  • Thanks, so if I'm understanding right, Aかは置いておいてB is saying something like "regardless of whether A is the reason why, B is true." – Aurast Mar 16 '16 at 02:57
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    Aかは置いておいて doesn't necessarily refer to a reason. "正しいかは置いておいて、彼はそう言っている。" (Putting aside whether it's true, he says so.) – naruto Mar 16 '16 at 03:06
  • Is は needed after か? What function does は play here? – user1602 May 18 '21 at 05:34
  • @user1602 This は is a contrastive-wa that replaced を. 置く meaning "putting aside" is normally used with contrstive-wa because there's a contrast between an unimportant thing and an important thing. That said, it's possible to say something like それ**を**置いておくのは良くない "It's not good to leave it (untouched)". – naruto May 18 '21 at 06:25
  • I understand that をは usage and know it must contract to は. My problem here is かは. Can は follow any particle? – user1602 May 18 '21 at 08:05
  • @user1602 No, か is special because it forms a noun phrase called an [embedded question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/13034/5010). – naruto May 19 '21 at 00:39