megusuri o tsukue no ue ni oita mama dekakeru tokorodatta.

direct object particle

Breakdown of megusuri o tsukue no ue ni oita mama dekakeru tokorodatta.

• の: possessive case particle
• だ: to be
• 〜た: past tense

Questions & Answers about megusuri o tsukue no ue ni oita mama dekakeru tokorodatta.

What does 〜たまま mean in this sentence?

〜たまま means leaving something in the state it ended up in, or without changing that state.

So:

• 置いたまま = left it placed there
• more literally: with it having been placed there, and still in that state

In this sentence, it means the eye drops were left on the desk, and that situation was still unchanged when the speaker was about to go out.

A natural English way to think of it is:

• leaving the eye drops on the desk
• with the eye drops still sitting on the desk
• without putting the eye drops away

---

Why is it 置いたまま and not 置くまま?

This is a standard grammar pattern:

• verb in past/plain form + まま

So you get:

• 開けたまま = leaving it open
• 座ったまま = remaining seated
• 置いたまま = leaving it placed there

The past form here does not mean ordinary past tense in the English sense. In this pattern, 〜た shows that the action has been completed, and then the resulting state continues.

So:

• 置いた = placed it
• 置いたまま = placed it and left it like that

That is why 置くまま would not work here.

---

What is 出かけるところだった doing here?