ため(に) Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Noun
Essential Meaning: On account of / For the sake of / On behalf of / In order to
Construction:
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + ため(に)
- E.g. 話すために [In order to speak]
- E.g. 高いために [Because X is expensive]
- な-Adjective Stem + [な / だった] + ため(に)
- E.g. 静かなために [Because X is quiet]
- Noun + [の / だった] + ため(に)
- E.g. 先生のために [For the teacher’s sake / Because X is a teacher]
- Demonstrative Adjective + ため(に)
- E.g. そのために [On account of that]
Notes:
- ため(に) indicates either a cause or reason (e.g. “Because of X“; “Owing to X“) or a purpose (e.g. “For the sake of X“; “On behalf of X“), depending on the context. ため(に) is not colloquial, so it may come across as strange or uptight in normal conversation when expressing a cause or reason.
- ため(に) is interpreted as a cause or reason in the following situations:
- (1) When ため(に) is preceded by an adjective
- E.g. 字が下手なために人に笑われた。 [Because my handwriting was bad, I was laughed at by people.]
- (2) When the main clause describes a non-controllable situation (i.e. a situation that is not brought about through the direct agency of the subject)
- E.g. 雪のために学校が休みになった。[Due to snow, the school was closed.]
- E.g. 仕事のために何もほかのことができない。[Because of my job, I can’t do anything else.]
- (3) When the ため(に) clause is in the past tense
- E.g. 親が甘かったために子供がだめになった。[Because the parents were lax, the children turned out poorly.]
- (1) When ため(に) is preceded by an adjective
- In cases that do not fall into the above three categories (i.e when ため(に) is not in the past tense, is not preceded by an adjective, and the main clause describes a controllable situation), ため(に) indicates a purpose.
- E.g. 会社のために朝から晩まで働いている。[For the sake of the company, I work from morning to night.]
- When ために and the main verb are separated by some phrase (i.e. ために and the main verb are not contiguous), に can be optionally dropped.
- E.g. ジャクソンさんは研究のためドイツに行った。[Jackson-san went to Germany for the sake of his research.]
- When ため(に) indicates a cause or reason, it is interchangeable with から or ので. That being said, ため(に) is more formal than から and ので and is rarely used to indicate cause or reason in everyday conversation.
- E.g. 今年は雪があまり降らないために/から/のでスキーができない。[Because it didn’t snow very much this year, we can’t ski.]
- E.g. 私は父が死んだために/ので/から大学に行けなかった。[Because my father died, I wasn’t able to go to university.]
- When ため(に) indicates purpose, it is sometimes interchangeable with のに (In Order To) or に (Reason / Purpose). Note that のに (In Order To) can only replace ため(に) when one does something in the direct PROCESS of achieving some goal, and に (Reason / Purpose) can only replace ため(に) when the main verb is a verb of motion.
- E.g. 漢字を調べるために / のに 辞書を使う。[In order to look up kanji, I use a dictionary.] のに (In Order To) is acceptable here because the dictionary is used in the process of looking up kanji.
- E.g. 体を強くするために毎日プールで泳いでいる。[In order to make my body stronger, I swim in the pool every day.] ため(に) can NOT be replaced by のに (In Order To) in this case because swimming is not directly involved in the process of strengthening the body
Example Sentences:
学生は試験のために勉強する。[The students are studying for the sake of the test.]
私は日本のことを知るため日本へ行く。[In order to learn about Japanese things, I will go to Japan.]
今年は雪があまり降らないためにスキーができない。[Because it hasn’t snowed very much this year, we can’t ski.]
外国人のためにいい辞書がない。[There are not good dictionaries for the sake of foreigners.]
日本人は会社のためによく働きます。[Japanese people work a lot for the sake of their companies.]
雪のために学校が休みになった。[Due to snow, the school was closed.]
ジャクソンさんは研究のためにドイツに行った。[Jackson-san went to Germany for the sake of his research.]
私は父が死んだために大学に行けなかった。[Because my father died, I wasn’t able to go to university.]
親が甘かったために子供がだめになった。[Because the parents were lax, the children turned out poorly.]
字が下手なために人に笑われた。[Because my handwriting was bad, I was laughed at by people.]
フランスに行ったのは香水を買うためだ。[Going to France was for the purpose of buying perfume.]
WILD Examples:
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