〜予定: Scheduled Plans | Japanese Grammar

予定（よてい）is the noun "schedule, plan, agenda," and Japanese uses it to report a future event that has been arranged — booked on a calendar, printed on a timetable, agreed with other people. Where 〜つもり voices your private will ("I mean to"), 予定 points at an arrangement that exists more or less independently of your willpower. The closest English is not "intend to" but "be due to / be scheduled to / be slated to." The plane is due to leave at ten whether you feel like it or not; the meeting is scheduled for three because everyone agreed, not because you resolved it in your heart. That objectivity is the whole character of 予定.

Two ways to attach 予定

Because 予定 is a noun, it hooks onto a sentence in the two ways any noun does: after a plain dictionary verb (marking the scheduled action), and after a noun + の (naming the scheduled thing).

Pattern	Structure	Example
Verb + 予定だ	plain dict. verb + 予定	出発する予定です (is due to depart)
Noun + の + 予定だ	noun + の + 予定	出張の予定です (a business trip is planned)
予定がある	… 予定 + が + ある	会議の予定があります (there's a meeting scheduled)

The の after a noun is not optional — 予定 is a noun, and one noun modifies another only through の, exactly as in 日本の会社 or 三時の電車.

来週、大阪へ出張する予定です。

raishū, Ōsaka e shutchō suru yotei desu

I'm scheduled to go to Osaka on business next week.

会議は三時に始まる予定です。

kaigi wa san-ji ni hajimaru yotei desu

The meeting is scheduled to start at three.

明日は休みの予定です。

ashita wa yasumi no yotei desu

Tomorrow is set to be a day off.

予定 reports an arrangement, not a feeling

The reason 予定 feels so different from つもり is that it foregrounds the external, factual side of a plan. It suits timetables, itineraries, official agendas, and anything fixed by parties beyond you. It also, unlike つもり, has no mind-reading problem — you can freely state someone else's or an impersonal 予定 as plain fact, because a schedule is public information, not a private mental state.

電車は十時に到着する予定だ。

densha wa jū-ji ni tōchaku suru yotei da

The train is due to arrive at ten.

工事は来月完成する予定です。

kōji wa raigetsu kansei suru yotei desu

The construction is scheduled to be completed next month.

社長は明日、パリから戻る予定です。

shachō wa ashita, Pari kara modoru yotei desu

The president is scheduled to return from Paris tomorrow. (a third party's schedule — no problem)

Try any of these with つもり and it breaks: a train has no intention, and you cannot report the president's private resolve as bare fact. 予定 sidesteps all of that because it describes an arrangement, not a will.

💡

Use 予定 when the plan lives outside your head — on a calendar, a timetable, an agreed agenda. Because it reports an arrangement rather than a feeling, it works for trains, companies, and other people, where つもり (private intention) would be strange or presumptuous.

予定だ vs 予定がある

Both are common but frame the plan slightly differently. 予定だ asserts that the event is scheduled — it modifies the event itself. 予定がある says a plan/appointment exists — it treats 予定 as a thing on your agenda, and it is the natural way to say "I've got something on / I'm busy then."

三時から会議の予定があります。

san-ji kara kaigi no yotei ga arimasu

I've got a meeting scheduled from three.

今週末は特に予定がない。

konshūmatsu wa toku ni yotei ga nai

I've got nothing particular on this weekend.

That last one — 予定がない ("no plans") — is the everyday way to say you're free, and it shows 予定 living fully as a countable noun on your calendar.

予定どおり and 予定だった

Two idioms round out the pattern. 予定どおり ("as scheduled, according to plan") is a fixed adverbial you'll meet constantly in announcements and reports:

台風の心配もなく、飛行機は予定どおり出発した。

taifū no shinpai mo naku, hikōki wa yotei-dōri shuppatsu shita

With no worry of a typhoon, the plane departed on schedule.

And just as つもりだった confesses a broken intention, 予定だった reports a schedule that fell through — but the flavour differs. つもりだった regrets your thwarted resolve; 予定だった notes that an arrangement was overtaken or changed, often by circumstances or other people.

三時に会う予定だったが、急に変更になった。

san-ji ni au yotei datta ga, kyū ni henkō ni natta

We were scheduled to meet at three, but it suddenly got changed.

今日届く予定だったのに、荷物がまだ来ない。

kyō todoku yotei datta noni, nimotsu ga mada konai

It was scheduled to arrive today, but the package still hasn't come.

Living with 予定: everyday collocations

Because 予定 is a concrete noun on your calendar, it slots into a family of verbs that describe managing plans — making them, having them come up, changing them, cancelling them. These collocations are how the word actually appears in daily conversation, and learning them saves you from stiff, over-formal sentences.

Collocation	Meaning
予定を立てる	to make / draw up plans
予定が入る	a plan comes up (something gets booked)
予定が変わる	plans change
予定をキャンセルする	to cancel a plan

週末の予定はもう立てた？

shūmatsu no yotei wa mō tateta?

Have you made plans for the weekend yet?

急に予定が入って、行けなくなっちゃった。

kyū ni yotei ga haitte, ikenaku nacchatta

Something suddenly came up and I couldn't make it after all. (casual)

予定が変わったら、すぐに連絡します。

yotei ga kawattara, sugu ni renraku shimasu

If the plans change, I'll let you know right away.

Notice how naturally 予定 takes verbs of arrangement — you build it, it fills up, it shifts. You would never say ×つもりを立てる ("draw up an intention"), because an intention is a private feeling, not an object you schedule. The collocations themselves reveal 予定's external, manageable nature.

予定 vs つもり: arranged versus willed

This is the contrast to carry away. The very same future event splits along one question — is the plan booked, or is it your private resolve?

	つもり	予定
What it reports	your inner resolve	an external arrangement
English	"intend to, mean to"	"be due to, be scheduled to"
Others / machines	awkward (can't read minds)	fine (public schedule)
Register	personal, conversational	often formal, official

来週、京都に行くつもりです。

raishū, Kyōto ni iku tsumori desu

I intend to go to Kyoto next week. (my own resolve)

来週、京都へ出張する予定です。

raishū, Kyōto e shutchō suru yotei desu

I'm scheduled to go to Kyoto on business next week. (it's on the calendar)

Choosing correctly tells your listener whether the plan is willed (つもり) or arranged (予定). A spur-of-the-moment craving or a personal aim is つもり or 〜たい; a fixture on the timetable is 予定.

💡

Don't confuse the three 予〜 words. 予定（よてい） = a scheduled plan. 予約（よやく） = a reservation/booking you make (a table, a ticket). 予想（よそう） = a prediction/forecast of an outcome. You make a 予約 to secure a spot, which then becomes part of your 予定; a 予想 is merely a guess about what will happen.

Common Mistakes

❌ 明日は休み予定です。

ashita wa yasumi yotei desu

Incorrect — a noun needs の before 予定.

✅ 明日は休みの予定です。

ashita wa yasumi no yotei desu

Tomorrow is set to be a day off.

❌ 会議は三時に始まります予定です。

kaigi wa san-ji ni hajimarimasu yotei desu

Incorrect — 予定 takes the plain dictionary verb, not the ます-form.

✅ 会議は三時に始まる予定です。

kaigi wa san-ji ni hajimaru yotei desu

The meeting is scheduled to start at three.

❌ 今日はなんだかラーメンを食べる予定だ。

kyō wa nandaka rāmen o taberu yotei da

Odd — a sudden craving isn't a booked arrangement; 予定 sounds over-scheduled for it.

✅ 今日はなんだかラーメンが食べたい。

kyō wa nandaka rāmen ga tabetai

For some reason I feel like ramen today. (a spontaneous wish → たい/つもり)

❌ レストランを予定しました。

resutoran o yotei shimashita

Wrong word — booking a restaurant is 予約, not 予定.

✅ レストランを予約しました。

resutoran o yoyaku shimashita

I made a restaurant reservation.

Key Takeaways

予定 is the noun "schedule / arranged plan": plain verb + 予定だ, or noun + の + 予定だ.
It reports an external arrangement — calendar, timetable, agreed agenda — closer to "be due to / scheduled to" than "intend to."
Unlike つもり, it works freely for other people, trains, and institutions, because a schedule is public, not a private mind.
予定がある/ない = "have plans / be free"; 予定どおり = "as scheduled"; 予定だった(のに) = an arrangement that fell through.
Same event, different framing: 行くつもり (willed) vs 行く予定 (arranged). And keep 予定 apart from 予約 (booking) and 予想 (prediction).

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