For the Purpose Of Complicating Things
“It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.” - Unknown
Now let’s take what we just learned and expand a little bit. Because the pattern is A ために B, we can really play a lot with A or B. The only thing that has to remain constant is the ために part.
See if you can do the following:
Write “To Study Japanese” in (casual) Japanese:
にほんご を べんきょうする
Now write “I will go to Japan”
にほん に いきます
So, with that being said, how would you say… “For the purpose of studying Japanese, I will go to Japan”?
[1] にほんご を べんきょうする [2] ために [3] にほん に いきます
See how there are different parts, and see how they’re related to each other? Tell me, what would you do for the following things? I’ll include example answers, but try to create your own first, then compare!
くるま の ために ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
aくるま の ために じてんしゃ を すてます
For my car, I will throw away my bicycle
こども の ために ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
aこども の ために おさけ を のみません
For (my/the) child, I will not drink sake
ゲーム を かう ために ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
aゲーム を かう ために おかね を かりる
In order to buy a game, I will borrow money
にほんご を はなす ために ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
aにほんご を はなす ために たくさん べんきょうする
In order to speak Japanese, I will study a lot
にほんご を ならう ために ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
aにほんご を ならう ために 日本 の テレビ を みる
In order to learn Japanese, I will watch Japanese television
Hopefully ために is starting to click. We’ll do a little bit more to help solidify things, but first, let’s go over something else, involving “casual” and “formal” and when to use what (with ために and other grammar points!).