为了 (wèile) is most often used to indicate the purpose of an action or the person that will benefit from some act of kindness. In the "purpose" sense, it almost exactly corresponds to "in order to" or "for the purpose of" in English. Basic Usage ------------------------------------------------------------- When 为了 indicates the purpose of an action, it's usually acting as a [preposition](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Preposition). In this role, the *whole* "为了 phrase" should come **before** the verb. ### Structure Note also that 为了 is a single word; the 了 here is not serving its role as a particle in this case. ### Examples Expressing "The reason why" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes you will see 为了 following 是. In this case, 为了 mean "for." Note that 为了 and 因为 both have the character 为 in them, and they have sort of similar meanings.You will also see 因为 following 是, instead of 为了. It literally means "is because." ### Structure ### Example Note that [之所以](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Stating_the_effect_before_the_cause) is a more difficult pattern, which means "the reason why" in a more formal way. See also ------------------------------------------------------- - [Expressing "for" with "wei"](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22for%22_with_%22wei%22) - [Expressing purpose with "hao"](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_purpose_with_%22hao%22) - [Using "lai" to connect two verb phrases](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Using_%22lai%22_to_connect_two_verb_phrases) - [Stating the effect before the cause](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Stating_the_effect_before_the_cause) Sources and further reading --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ### Books - [Home With Kids1 (家有儿女1)](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Home_With_Kids1_(%E5%AE%B6%E6%9C%89%E5%84%BF%E5%A5%B31)) (pp. 32) [→buy](http://www.amazon.cn/%E5%AE%B6%E6%9C%89%E5%84%BF%E5%A5%B31-%E5%88%98%E7%AB%8B%E6%96%B0/dp/B0020MLDO8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347862139&sr=8-1) - [New Practical Chinese Reader 4 (新实用汉语课本4)](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/New_Practical_Chinese_Reader_4_(%E6%96%B0%E5%AE%9E%E7%94%A8%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E8%AF%BE%E6%9C%AC4)) (pp. 40) [→buy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/7561913192/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=7561913192) - [卓越汉语－公司实战篇](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/%E5%8D%93%E8%B6%8A%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%EF%BC%8D%E5%85%AC%E5%8F%B8%E5%AE%9E%E6%88%98%E7%AF%87) (pp. 12) \[ →buy\] - [现代汉语虚词例释](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/%E7%8E%B0%E4%BB%A3%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E8%99%9A%E8%AF%8D%E4%BE%8B%E9%87%8A) (pp. 484, 572) [→buy](http://www.amazon.cn/%E7%8E%B0%E4%BB%A3%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E5%85%AB%E7%99%BE%E8%AF%8D/dp/B004323J90/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345693275&sr=8-1) - [Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Integrated_Chinese:_Level_2,_Part_1) (pp. 347-8) [→buy](http://amzn.to/2fdV2l3) ### Websites - Yale Chinese Usage Dictionary: [Uses of 为 and 为了](http://comet.cls.yale.edu/chineseusagedictionary/0236.html) ### Podcasts - [Chinesepod Qingwen 为 and 为了](http://chinesepod.com/lessons/%E4%B8%BA-and-%E4%B8%BA%E4%BA%86)