-도록 하다
make sure to; see that you do
A soft instruction. Rather than telling someone to act, it names the state of affairs you want — which is why workplaces and notices reach for it constantly.
Build it
Pick a verb
When to use it
Attach -도록 to any verb stem and conjugate 하다. ㄹ stays, and no tense goes in front.
Three things it does. As an instruction to the listener: 다음부터는 미리 연락하도록 하세요. As a commitment about yourself: 앞으로 주의하도록 하겠습니다. And occasionally as a plain causative, where it overlaps with -게 하다.
The instruction reading is by far the most common, and its appeal is the distance it creates. 연락하세요 orders; 연락하도록 하세요 asks you to see that it happens. In Korean workplaces that gap matters.
The commitment reading is standard in apologies and formal replies, where a bare 하겠습니다 can sound abrupt.
How to attach it
| Situation | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Any verb | -도록 하다 | 연락하다 → 연락하도록 하세요 |
| ㄹ stems keep the ㄹ | -도록 하다 | 만들다 → 만들도록 하세요 |
| Instruction | -도록 하세요 | 늦지 않도록 하세요 |
| Commitment | -도록 하겠습니다 | 주의하도록 하겠습니다 |
| Causative overlap | -게 하다 | 쉬게 했어요 |
| Never takes tense | plain stem only | 연락했도록 is wrong |
In use
다음부터는 미리 연락하도록 하세요.
Please make sure to get in touch in advance next time.
앞으로 이런 일이 없도록 하겠습니다.
We’ll see to it that this doesn’t happen again.
회의 자료는 오늘까지 제출하도록 해 주세요.
Please ensure the meeting materials are submitted by today.
감기에 걸리지 않도록 하세요.
Do take care not to catch a cold.
시간 안에 만들도록 하겠습니다.
I’ll make sure it’s made within the time.
그럼 다음 주에 다시 논의하도록 합시다.
Let’s arrange to discuss it again next week, then.
Compared with
-(으)세요
-(으)세요 tells someone to do something; -도록 하세요 asks them to bring it about. The second sounds more like a policy than an order.
일찍 오세요. (come early) / 일찍 오도록 하세요. (please see that you come early)
-게 하다
-게 하다 reports that you made someone act; -도록 하다 addresses the listener. Mixing them changes who is doing what.
쉬게 했어요. (I let him rest) / 쉬도록 하세요. (please make sure you rest)
-겠습니다
In the commitment reading, adding 도록 하다 softens a pledge. Useful in apologies where a bare 하겠습니다 can sound clipped.
주의하겠습니다. (I’ll be careful) / 주의하도록 하겠습니다. (I’ll see that I’m careful)
Watch out
동생을 쉬도록 했어요. — meaning “I let my brother rest”
동생을 쉬게 했어요.
To report that you made or let someone act, -게 하다 is the natural choice. -도록 하다 usually addresses the listener.
다음부터는 미리 연락했도록 하세요.
다음부터는 미리 연락하도록 하세요.
-도록 never carries tense. The instruction points forward.
야, 빨리 오도록 해.
야, 빨리 와.
The construction belongs to formal and workplace speech. Among friends it sounds stiff and faintly bureaucratic.
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