ところだ details

write + (past) + just did

kaita tokoroda

just did; in the middle of doing; about to do

ごめん、今いま起おきたとこ。すぐ出でる。

gomen, ima okita toko. sugu deru.

Sorry, I literally just woke up. I'll leave right away. casual

今いまちょうど夕飯ゆうはん作つくってるとこだから、あとでかけ直なおすね。

ima choudo yuuhan tsukutteru toko da kara, ato de kakenaosu ne.

I'm right in the middle of making dinner, so I'll call you back later. casual

contraction
past
polite

Examples

just did — the event finished moments ago (たところだ)

ごめん、今いま起おきたとこ。すぐ出でる。

gomen, ima okita toko. sugu deru.

Sorry, I literally just woke up. I'll leave right away. casual

会議かいぎはたった今いま終おわったところだ。

kaigi wa tatta ima owatta tokoro da.

The meeting ended just now. neutral

先さきほど資料しりょうをお送おくりしたところです。

sakihodo shiryou o o okuri shita tokoro desu.

I have just now sent you the materials. formal

in the middle of doing — caught mid-action at this very moment (ているところだ)

今いまちょうど夕飯ゆうはん作つくってるとこだから、あとでかけ直なおすね。

ima choudo yuuhan tsukutteru toko da kara, ato de kakenaosu ne.

I'm right in the middle of making dinner, so I'll call you back later. casual

今いま、引ひっ越こしの準備じゅんびをしているところだ。

ima, hikkoshi no junbi o shite iru tokoro da.

I'm in the middle of getting ready for the move. neutral

about to do — on the verge of starting; past ところだった means it almost happened (るところだ)

ちょうど今いまから出でかけるところだ。

choudo ima kara dekakeru tokoro da.

I'm just about to head out. neutral

危あぶなかった、車くるまにひかれるところだったよ。

abunakatta, kuruma ni hikareru tokoro datta yo.

That was close — I almost got hit by a car. casual

Formation

{V-ta}ところだattaches to た-form
{V-te}いるところだattaches to て-form
{V}ところだattaches to dictionary form

Variant notes

とこ — casual speech clips ところ to とこ, usually dropping だ with it — 今[いま]起[お]きたとこ, 今[いま]から出[で]るとこ. Speech and messaging only.

Notes

たところだ resists any stated temporal distance — ×三年前に卒業したところだ fails even if it feels recent to you, which is exactly where subjective たばかり takes over. Duration adverbs clash too: ずっと食べているところだ is off — plain ている handles that.

Related patterns

Similar

あとで
Both hang off completion-た, and as predicates they converge when ちょうど pins the moment (ちょうど食べたあとだ ≈ 食べたところだ) — but あとで only states posteriority across any gap, while たところだ by itself claims the gap is minutes, not years.
たばかりだ
Both claim "just did" off the た-form, but たところだ measures an objective clock-window (minutes to hours, rejects stated long spans), while たばかり is the speaker's subjective recency and stretches freely — 先月[せんげつ]結婚[けっこん]したばかり is fine, ×先月結婚したところだ is not.

Lookalikes

ている
食べているところだ narrows ている to one pinpointed "right now" — the habitual and resultative readings vanish, and duration adverbs like ずっと sit fine with ている but clash with ところだ.