Expressing "for" with "wei"

When you work for a company, or do other sorts of physical (and even mental) activities for another party, you're likely to use the Chinese preposition 为 (wèi), which is often translated into English as "for," a translation which is often unnatural or unnecessary, depending on the particular phrase. The super common Mao-era phrase, 为人民服务 ("serve the people"), doesn't need the word "for" in English, for example.

Don't confuse this preposition with 为了, which is a bit different.

Structure

为 + [Some Part] + Verb

Examples

• 谁 为 我 考虑 过 ？Shéi wèi wǒ kǎolǜ guo?Is there anyone who's ever thought about me?
• 为 人民 服务 。Wèi rénmín fúwù.Serve the people.
• 大家 都 在 为 孩子 担心 。Dàjiā dōu zài wèi háizi dānxīn.Everybody is now worried about the kid.
• 我们 都 为 你 高兴 。Wǒmen dōu wèi nǐ gāoxìng.We are all happy for you.
• 他 为 我 做 了 很 多 事 。Tā wèi wǒ zuò le hěn duō shì.He's done a lot for me.
• 你们 可以 来 为 我们 加油 。Nǐmen kěyǐ lái wèi wǒmen jiāyóu.You can come to cheer us up.
• 她 是 为 美国 政府 工作 的 。Tā shì wèi Měiguó zhèngfǔ gōngzuò de.She works for the United States government.
• 公司 为 她 提供 了 很 多 资源 。Gōngsī wèi tā tígōng le hěn duō zīyuán.The company provided her with many resources.
• 如果 只 为 钱 工作 ，你 是 不 会 幸福 的 。Rúguǒ zhǐ wèi qián gōngzuò, nǐ shì bù huì xìngfú de.You won't be happy if you work only for money.
• 他 为 公司 的 发展 做出 了 很 多 贡献 。Tā wèi gōngsī de fāzhǎn zuòchū le hěn duō gòngxiàn.He contributed a lot for the development of the company.

See Also

• Expressing purpose with "weile"
• "For" with "gei"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Chinese Grammar - Broken down into 100 items - Basic and Intermediate Levels (汉语语法百项讲练 - 初中级) (pp. 238) →buy
• Practicing HSK Grammar (语法精讲精炼) (pp.76) →buy
• Boya Chinese Lower Intermediate 1 (博雅汉语准中级加速篇) (pp. 203) →buy

Websites

• Yale Chinese Usage Dictionary: Uses of 为 and 为了