〜たらどう

About

〜たらどう (often translated as "why don't you...") combines the たら conditional with 「どう」("how?") and is used to make suggestions, by the speaker, to the listener.

On its own, 〜たらどう is casual but may be appended with ですか or でしょうか to increase the degree of politeness. In casual spoken Japanese, どう is sometimes dropped altogether.

〜たらどう may also be combined with かしら、だ、なんだ、か、and なの. かしら and なの have a feminine nuance, while だ and なんだ sound fairly strong and masculine. 〜たらどうか is not common in spoken Japanese, and appears most frequently in written situations, or when quoting someone.

In addition to giving advice, 〜たらどう may be used to chastise someone.

Summary

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  〜たらどう, "why don't you", is used to give suggestions

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  On its own, 〜たらどう is casual, but it may be combined with ですか or でしょうか to become polite

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  〜たらどう may be combined with かしら、なの、だ、なんだ and か

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  〜たらどう may also be used to chastise someone