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ドアを開けておきました。

healer

Sempai
13 May 2019
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(I) have opened the door(in advance). It implies that the door is still open now.

What if I had opened the door and it was still open after that for some time to get ready for some event in the past? How to say that in Japanese?

By the way I've found ドア is more common for door and 窓 for window! Does it mean that doors in Japan are more westernized in style and have no 玄関 while windows are more of Japanese style?
 
What if I had opened the door and it was still open after that for some time to get ready for some event in the past? How to say that in Japanese?

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here. First of all ドアを開けておきました is perfect tense, so it's not really saying anything about the present. If you were narrating a past event (say, writing a diary or story about the events of yesterday), you could say something like, 母がそのうち帰ってくると思って、ドアを開けておきました。This doesn't say anything about the state of the door now. Of course, if your mom was on the way home and she texted you saying she forgot her keys, and you replied ドア開けといたよ, that would imply that you opened the door and it's still opened. Context is key.

By the way I've found ドア is more common for door and 窓 for window! Does it mean that doors in Japan are more westernized in style and have no 玄関 while windows are more of Japanese style?
No, it's just how the language evolved. There are plenty of "Western-style" windows in Japan, and they're still 窓. Train doors are generally referred to as 扉 and there's nothing particularly uniquely "Japanese-style" about them. If you're talking about traditional Japanese sliding doors like 障子 and ふすま, yes, they still have their traditional Japanese names, but you can't simply assume that anything that primarily is referred to with a loanword versus a traditional Japanese word are more "Western-style" or "Japanese-style" (respectively) in all their manifestations.

(Also, I'm not sure what you mean by saying doors do or don't have a "玄関". 玄関 is the word for vestibule/foyer/entrance area in a house. It's not something that can be part of a door.)
 
You can show the end of the period by まで if you need to make clear when the state is over, as I already gave you an example.

天気が良かったので、夕方まで洗濯物を干しておいた。
Since the weather was fine, I left the washing hanging out until evening.

 
I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here.
How would one say in Japanese for the following sentences using 〜ておく? I expect some difference because one describes one event before another which was also in the past while the other just describes one event already happened getting ready for some future event.
I had opened the door.
I have opened the door.
 
The reason I mentioned the style of doors because I have also come across 戸 and 門 as well as 扉 which also mean door. I'm also aware that etymology can often be not the same and unpredictable. It's okay whatever reason it might be and I'm just curious. For windows I have also seen ウィンドウ and I also found out this is for computer windows and shop windows only. I had the idea that might be the reason for the choice of words when I remember ホテル and 旅館.
 
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ドア mostly refers to entrance and exit doors of a room/house for people(or maybe animals) often in western style, thus, 扉 or 戸 is more common, for instance, for doors of a cupboard. Also, 扉 and 戸 tend to be used for hinged doors and sliding doors, respectively.

How would one say in Japanese for the following sentences using 〜ておく? I expect some difference because one describes one event before another which was also in the past while the other just describes one event already happened getting ready for some future event.
I had opened the door.
I have opened the door.
You can differentiate the present state by ドアを開けておいてある vs. ドアを開けておいてあった. The former means that the door is still open now, and the latter suggests that the state "open" is already over now. You can also use other expressions like 開けたままにしている vs. 開けたままにしていた.
 
ドア mostly refers to entrance and exit doors of a room/house for people(or maybe animals)
Were there doors in houses before the western culture came to Japan, before you had the word ドア? What about the main door of the house or the building or the door of the palace where the emperor resides? I suppose there might not be apartment those days. I'm not referring to 障子 or ふすま, I understand these are doors for internal rooms only. What would Japanese people call the door in Japanese before they have the word ドア, I wonder. When they change the word for something I guess something must have been changed, like style or material etc. I'm just curious.
 
Were there doors in houses before the western culture came to Japan, before you had the word ドア?
Yes, of course.

What about the main door of the house or the building or the door of the palace where the emperor resides?
ドア, 扉, 入口, エントランス,,, there are many words for them.

I suppose there might not be apartment those days.
There were 長屋 (interestingly, literally means "longhouse").

What would Japanese people call the door in Japanese before they have the word ドア, I wonder.
戸 is most common since they are mostly sliding doors. 扉 is also used, though.

When they change the word for something I guess something must have been changed, like style or material etc.
Sorry, I don't know when ドア became common.
 
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